Arrieta's ERA rises as Cubs lose to Cardinals
ST. LOUIS - The numbers aren't getting any better for Jake Arrieta and the Chicago Cubs.
Arrieta's ERA rose from 5.35 to 5.44 Sunday, and the Cubs' record fell to 18-19 with a sleepy 5-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium.
The game was played in front of 47,925 fans. For the second straight day, a Cubs-Cardinals game set an attendance record at this ballpark.
The Cubs and Arrieta keep insisting that the numbers will start trending in the right direction. Of Arrieta's 8 starts this season, only 3 have been quality starts.
Two years ago, Arrieta won the Cy Young Award with a record of 22-6 and an ERA of 1.77. His second half was one for the history books.
Although he was not as dominant last year, Arrieta still managed a record of 18-8 with an ERA of 3.10.
In Sunday's game, he worked 6 innings, giving up 7 hits and 4 runs. Yadier Molina tagged him for a 2-run homer in the second inning after Jedd Gyorko led off with a single. Matt Carpenter added a 2-run shot in the third.
Control wasn't an issue, as Arrieta threw only 85 pitches while walking one and striking out five. But the Cubs still are waiting for Arrieta's velocity to rise from the low-90s (mph).
"It was actually pretty good," he said of his day overall. "Probably some of the best stuff I've featured this year. Pretty good command. Just a couple of mistakes I made were capitalized on by those guys for a couple of 2-run homers."
It may seem like hoping against hope, but manager Joe Maddon keeps sounding an optimistic note about Arrieta eventually looking like his old self.
"It would be great to have that occur," Maddon said. "He's shown flashes of that, I think, this year, also. I have so much faith and confidence in him and his methods and just him.
"You're pretty aware that I don't get caught up off the bandwagon very easily. I really believe he's going to be fine. I believe it's going to be almost like a snap of the fingers, everything's going to fall back into place, and you're going to see this slow method of better, better, better, great."
Maddon agreed with his pitcher about Sunday.
"I thought Jake was outstanding," he said. "I thought he had his best stuff all year. They hit 2 home runs. Give them credit for that. But otherwise, the swings and misses, the pitches in the zones, the takes on their part, I thought he was outstanding."
A return to 2015 form is almost too much to ask for, and Maddon knows that.
"I think all of a sudden you're going to see something's going to click and he's going to be back close to where he had been," the manager said. "It's hard to be where he had been when he won the (Cy Young) award. I'm not expecting that but more like we had seen last year, more consistency in the velocity.
"Velocity is probably the biggest. When you start seeing that perk back up and the called strikes and being able to pitch in the strike zone with misses, that's when you're going to see him really take off."
On the offensive side of the ball Sunday, the Cubs were manhandled by veteran Adam Wainwright, who pitched 7 innings of 4-hit ball.
"We'd like to win a few more games and tighten things up a little bit, but guys are showing up ready to play and going about themselves the right way," Arrieta said. "We're just not necessarily getting the results we'd like.
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