Rain pushes Chicago Cubs' Arrieta start back a day

Jake Arrieta looked ready to go Wednesday afternoon in the Chicago Cubs' clubhouse, with headphones on and scouting reports in hand.

But Mother Nature had other ideas, as rain postponed Wednesday night's game against the Milwaukee Brewers at Wrigley Field.

No makeup date has been announced. The postponement came about 45 minutes before the scheduled 7 p.m. start, and the Cubs said they could not see a "window" of clear weather in which to play the game.

Instead, Arrieta will take the mound Thursday at 1:20 p.m. against the Brewers' Taylor Jungmann. The Cubs will simply push back their rotation one day, with Jon Lester starting Friday's series opener against the Atlanta Braves at Wrigley Field.

Arrieta tossed a no-hitter last Thursday at Cincinnati. The Cubs certainly didn't want Arrieta to start Wednesday and then face a delay.

"That's never fun," said manager Joe Maddon. "You don't want to do that with any of your starters. With Jake, you definitely don't want that to happen to him."

Arrieta is 4-0 with an 0.87 ERA. The Cubs have won Arrieta's last 17 starts, matching the franchise record held by Ed Reulbach (1906-07) and Pat Luby (1890-91). Maddon was asked if the streak would play any part in his thinking on a bad-weather night.

"I would just be watching him and his performance," he said. "Obviously, if he was struggling big time and it didn't make any sense and we were behind, get him out. Just save it. If it's something that's kind of close and it looks like he still has his stuff, we probably would let it ride.

"That's something you would have to answer in the moment, I would think. But I would not let him just stay out there if he was getting pummeled just to meet some kind of a record."

The weather has been brutal. Tuesday night's series opener was played in 40-degree weather, with a 16-mph out of the north make it feel like 34.

Summer in the city:

Joe Maddon was asked how he felt about both the Cubs and White Sox getting off to good starts.

"Digging it," he said. "It's so good. I like Robin a lot. (Sox manager) Robin Ventura's a good man. Back in '95, my first (full) year in the major leagues as a coach, I'm walking into the ballpark down there and getting out of the cab.

"He happened to be walking in at the same time. He greeted me like I had been there for 20 years. He addressed me, and I'll never forget that.

"I'm really happy for him and their success. I think it's great for the city, seeing this kind of play. That could make for a very interesting summer. I think if you live in this city and have that kind of stuff going on, what could possibly beat that?"

Still not ready;

Catcher Miguel Montero was still a no-go had Wednesday's game been played. He was a late lineup scratch Tuesday because of a stiff back.

David Ross was set to make his second straight start. Montero is listed as day to day.

There has been a fun movement online to get Ross some write-in votes for the All-Star Game.

"I'm the flavor of the week right now," he said. "It's flattering, but I don't want anything I haven't deserved. I'm a backup catcher for a reason."

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