Braun's big day helps Cubs club Brewers 11-3
The Chicago Cubs certainly are nowhere near DEFCON 1 in terms of concern over Jake Arrieta's walk total over his last 6 starts, but they also aren't ignoring the trend.
"Of course there is (concern)," said manager Joe Maddon after Arrieta walked four in an 11-3 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday at Wrigley Field. "We've got to figure out what's going wrong. Cannot deny that."
Arrieta hasn't been awful of late but has allowed 21 walks in his last 37⅓ innings. That 0.54/inning rate is far higher than the 0.35 he issued in his previous 23 starts.
With the Cubs leading 3-1, the Cy Young candidate issued a leadoff walk in the sixth and then gave up an RBI double to the Brewers' Scooter Gennett and a 2-run homer to Ryan Braun.
Against the bullpen, Braun homered again in the eighth, and Chris Carter added a grand slam in the ninth.
Maddon wants Arrieta to get better control of his fastball, but the pitcher came into the interview room and said he's more concerned with getting the sinker in the strike zone on the first pitch.
"Then after that, it opens up a lot of doors," said Arrieta, who fell to 17-7 and has a 4.58 ERA in his last 6 starts. "We're working on it. …
"The execution just needs to be better early in the counts to prevent guys from taking pitches and getting into 2-1, 3-1 counts. I need to tighten that up moving forward."
The Cubs jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning on an RBI triple by Kris Bryant and a 2-run homer by Chris Coghlan. It was Coghlan's first homer as a Cub this season.
Bryant and Javier Baez were the only regulars in the lineup for Maddon, who said a normal lineup will face the Brewers on Sunday.
Stay calm:
Fans worried about players going into individual or collective slumps because the Cubs clinched a division title late Thursday should know this: The goal is to finish with the best record in baseball and earn homefield advantage throughout the National League playoffs.
"They don't fly a W (flag) for no reason; we don't celebrate after every win here for no reason," said Jason Heyward. "That's the bottom line, it's important to win."
The Cubs are 6 games ahead of Washington for the best record in the NL. Manager Joe Maddon pointed to his team winning at Pittsburgh in the wild-card game last year as an example that homefield advantage isn't the be all, end all. Still …
"We do want to have homefield advantage throughout," Maddon said. "Now does it matter at the end of the day? We'll find out. I don't know that it necessarily does. …
"But competitively speaking - (because of) who you are as an athlete - you want to be the best."
Around the horn:
Joe Maddon said Jorge Soler, who left Friday's game after three innings, has a sore side. Maddon didn't think it was anything serious. "I saw him after the game and he seemed to be fine." … Chris Coghlan had his first 3-hit game of the season in the Cubs' 5-4 victory over Milwaukee on Friday. … Kris Bryant has tripled in two of his last three games after having just 1 in his first 140.
He said it:
"Yeah, I was jealous. I just love the entire attitude with that."
Joe Maddon on Theo Epstein, Jed Hoyer and scouting director Jason McLeod sitting in the bleachers for Friday's game.