Arrieta: 1st Cubs pitcher to win first six games since 1908 |
The Chicago Cubs (19-6) blasted the Pittsburgh Pirates (15-12) in the second game of the series by a score of 7-1.
The game was won in large part because of ace Jake Arrieta, who becomes the first Cubs player to win his first six games of the season since 1908 (Three Finger Brown) and lowered his ERA to a microsopic 0.84. Jake Arrieta threw consecutive 1-2-3 innings in the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth inning but was relieved by Trevor Cahill in the bottom of the 8th inning. Arrieta’s statistics for the night were 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 SOs and 1 RBI. He retired sixteen of his final seventeen batters that he faced, and the Cubs have won Arrieta's last 19 starts that extends the franchise record. He is also the 8th pitcher since 1913 to win 17 straight decisions. Amazingly, during Arrieta's last three starts, he has given up only five hits and has produced three hits at the plate. For the season, he has given up a total of four runs but has three RBIs at the plate. The Cubs bats were sizzling early with the Cubs scoring six runs through four innings. In the 2nd inning, Anthony Rizzo was hit by Jonathon Niese’s pitch to get him to first base. Ben Zobrist then hit a double to left field. Javier Báez then grounded out to shortstop to score Rizzo. After the bases were loaded due to Niese walking both Addison Russell and Tim Federowicz, Jake Arrieta hit a single to center field to score Zobrist. In the 4th inning, with Rizzo on third and Federowicz on second and a wild pitch by Niese, Rizzo scores. Jorge Soler then hits a single to left field to score Federowicz. Kris Bryant hit an extremely long single to center to score Dexter Fowler. Rizzo then doubled to center to score Soler. The Pirates scored their only run in the bottom of the 8th inning when John Jaso grounded out to score Sean Rodriguez. To finish off the Pirates in the top of the 9th inning, Zobrist hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Bryant. The Cubs now have the best run differential (+89) through 25 games since 1900. It adds up to an average win of 3.56 runs per game. The Chicago Cubs go for the three-game sweep of the Pirates Wednesday afternoon at 11:35 pm CT. Veteran lefty Jon Lester (2-1, 1.83 ERA) will take the mound against righty Juan Nicasio (3-2, 3.33 ERA).
