The 33-year-old left-hander permitted just two hits over eight scoreless innings, striking out six and getting 11 ground-ball outs. He had to be good because fire-balling Hunter Greene, throwing a record 46 pitches at least 100 miles an hour, also was blanking the Cardinals.
Quintana, whose outing was his longest since he shut out Milwaukee while pitching for the Chicago Cubs on Sept. 24, 2017, got only a pat on the back and internal satisfaction for his efforts because the Cardinals' offense struck out 16 times against Reds pitching while Quintana was on the mound.
But the Cardinals nailed down a doubleheader sweep anyway, shoving across the only run of the game in the 11th inning, treating a sellout crowd of 48,299 to a 1-0 victory.