Cubs' Arrieta aces it again
“A” is for ace. “A” also is for Arrieta, as in Cubs ace pitcher Jake Arrieta.
The 29-year-old Arrieta turned in another A-1 performance Sunday as he tossed a complete-game 2-hitter to beat the White Sox 3-1 before a season-high crowd of 41,688 at Wrigley Field.
Arrieta improved his record to 10-5 with a 2.66 ERA and a microscopic WHIP of 0.99.
The 10 victories tie his career high, set last year with the Cubs and in 2011 with Baltimore. He's the first Cubs pitcher with 10 wins at the all-star break since Ryan Dempster and Carlos Zambrano each had 10 in 2008.
The only “A” not associated with Arrieta's name — and perhaps it should be — is “all-star,” but the Cubs know what they have.
“His stuff is definitely elite level of all major-league pitchers, there's no question,” said manager Joe Maddon, whose team snapped a three-game losing streak to improve to 47-40. “He's arriving there. As he continues to understand everything that he's got at his disposal, with the weapons he has, that's when he's really going to take off.
“Strike-thrower today. Curveball was ridiculously one of the best, maybe the best, from the right side. He hits homers.”
Yeah, he does that, too.
Arrieta clubbed his first major-league home run leading off the bottom of the fifth. It was a line drive to left field that he wasn't sure was going to get out.
“I would like to hit the first one knowing it was a homer, instead of having to sprint to first,” he said. “That was cool. For the first one, it was cool doing it at home, during a day game, right before the break.”
But pitching is Arrieta's forte, and he has been ace-like since last year, assuming the title after the Cubs traded Jeff Samardzija to Oakland in July. Although the Cubs signed Jon Lester last winter to be their ace, Arrieta isn't letting go.
The Cubs obtained him two years ago, along with reliever Pedro Strop, in a trade with Baltimore for pitcher Scott Feldman and catcher Steve Clevenger.
There's no doubt the Cubs have gotten the best of that one, even though it took Arrieta a little time to truly find himself.
“I think we talked about it a lot,” he said. “There are so many things that I've changed, so many things that I've learned, changing routines and really trying to figure out who I am as a pitcher, as a person. All of those things have really come together and allowed me to block the outside noise and just toe the rubber and go pitch.”
The Cubs got Arrieta 2 quick runs in the first inning against White Sox starter Jose Quintana. Dexter Fowler led off with a single. After Anthony Rizzo flied out, Kris Bryant tripled down the left-field line. Jorge Soler drove Bryant home with a single.
Arrieta didn't allow a baserunner until Tyler Saladino singled with one out in the fourth. The Sox got a run in the sixth, and for the game Arrieta struck out nine while not walking a batter. The complete game was Arrieta's second of the year. Kyle Henricks has the team's other.
As for not being an all-star, Arrieta seemed to take that in stride.
“I just feel like one guy as a player on this team who can really help us win,” he said. “Those individual accolades are great. My teammates, I know that they can count on me to come up big for us when the moment arises.
“I thought about that stuff a little bit several days ago, but it's out of sight, out of mind now. I'm actually looking forward to having a couple days off and doing some things with the kids.
“I think it was a positive first half for us. We just need to continue to keep getting better.”
• Catch up on the week's analysis and game stories about the Cubs with our newsletter. Click here to sign up.