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Historic night for Bryant lifts Arrieta to 12th win

When Kris Bryant reached the dugout after his record-setting third home run, thousands of Cubs fans in the stands cheered for a curtain call. A few teammates wanted him to take a bow, too.

Nope. That was the only thing the Cubs' top hitter wouldn't do on his historic night.

Bryant became the first major-leaguer to hit 3 home runs and 2 doubles in a game and Jake Arrieta added a solo shot in the ballpark where he threw a no-hitter in April, leading the Cubs to an 11-8 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Monday night.

"The last couple of weeks haven't been what I've wanted, so I figured I'm due," said Bryant, who hit 3 homers one time during a college game with San Diego.

Arrieta (12-2) threw his second career no-hitter April 21 in a 16-0 win over the Reds. Bryant led the way with a pair of homers in that game, including a grand slam that gave him a career-high 6 RBI.

Arrieta struggled in his return to Cincinnati, giving up a season-high 5 runs in 5 innings, but Bryant drove in 6 runs again to help the right-hander pull through. Bryant's 16 total bases were a Cubs record (topping the old mark by 2), and his 5 hits marked a career high.

"That keeps you back from those 0-for-20 stretches when you have a game like this," Bryant said.

Most of the 31,762 fans wore Cubs blue and demanded a curtain call after the third homer. Bryant wouldn't oblige, considering it inappropriate on the road.

"He enjoys the moment, but he doesn't go over the top with it," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. "He's very old school. He doesn't spike the ball in the end zone. He just lays it down or hands it to the official."

It's been quite some sport, trying to figure out what's "wrong" with Jake Arrieta of late. He didn't come close to a no-hitter this time, giving up 5 runs on 4 hits.

The Cubs improved to 49-26 for the season, while Arrieta upped his own mark to 12-2 with an ERA of 2.10 (up from 1.74) and a WHIP of 1.02 as he pitched 5 innings, walking five and striking out four.

Arrieta has started 12 games since his no-hitter, going 8-2 with an ERA of 2.63 and a WHIP of 1.17. The ERA and WHIP numbers are slightly above his season marks, but hardly terrible.

If anything, Arrieta and the Cubs have been lamenting that other teams have been making him work hard to get the outs.

That was the case again Monday. The Cubs scored 2 runs in the first inning, 1 on an RBI double by Bryant and the other on a sacrifice fly by Miguel Montero.

But the Reds tied it in the home half, as Arrieta threw 27 pitches. A quick 1-2-3 second was followed by a 22-pitch third, when the Reds tied the game at 3-3 after Bryant's solo homer in the top of the inning.

The Cubs looked to be sitting pretty after they scored 4 runs in the fourth, the big blow being Bryant's 3-run homer, a 444-foot monster shot to left.

Arrieta gave himself an 8-3 lead with his home run but found trouble in the bottom of the fifth when Joey Votto hit a 2-run homer. Pitching coach Chris Bosio visited Arrieta in the inning, and left-hander Travis Wood was warming up in the bullpen.

Arrieta averted further trouble, but he did run his pitch count to 93, and Maddon went to Trevor Cahill in the sixth.

A look at the numbers shows no big differences for Arrieta except for the walk rates, suggesting a lack of command on some days. His walks-per-9-innings has gone from 1.89 to 3.21 (entering Monday) and his strikeouts-to-walks ratio was down from 4.92 to 3.06 while his walks percentage rose from 5.5 to 9.1.

As for Bryant, he also is the first player in Cubs history to have 5 extra-base hits in a game.

He became the third major-leaguer since 1900 to have at least 3 homers and a total of 5 extra-base hits. Josh Hamilton had 4 homers and a double in 2012, and Joe Adcock had 4 homers and a double in 1954, per Elias Sports Bureau research provided by the Reds.

Before Bryant, the last Cubs player with 3 homers in a game was Dioner Navarro, on May 29, 2013, against the White Sox.

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