Cubs give dominating performance in win over Marlins
The Chicago Cubs righted themselves pretty quickly on a pair of fronts Tuesday night.
As illustrated in a 10-2 victory over the Miami Marlins, things finally may be coming together for the Cubs in the season as a whole.
Starting pitcher Jake Arrieta overcame a 34-pitch first inning, and Cubs bats broke out in a big way beginning in the fifth inning, as they scored 4 runs, following it up with 6 in the seventh.
When all the calculations were done, it added up to a fifth victory in a row, moving the Cubs to 30-27, keeping them in a virtual tie for first place with Milwaukee in the National League Central.
"The feeling's a little different in the dugout all of a sudden since we've been back home," manager Joe Maddon said. "The guys are starting to feel it a little bit more. It's a little more reminiscent of the last two years, and that's a good thing."
A team that raised "concern" by being "overly dependent" on the home run hit 5 doubles, 2 by Jason Heyward. Speaking of home runs, Anthony Rizzo had a pretty important 3-run laser to right field in the fifth.
"You can't ever hit too many home runs," said Rizzo, who has 13.
Arrieta settled in nicely, retiring 16 in a row from the end of the first inning into the sixth to run his record to 6-4. He worked 6 innings of 2-hit ball, giving up 2 runs.
He agreed with his manager that the Cubs' engine might be starting to chug and pick up steam.
"Anytime we go through a period like we did on our last road trip, it kind of increases the sense of urgency a little bit," said Arrieta, referring to the recent 0-6 skid on the West Coast. "Not necessarily pressing or trying to do more than we're capable of, but just maybe trying to get locked in a little more as far as our mental approach, just focusing exclusively on that and allowing our ability to show through without putting added pressure on ourselves. We've been doing that the past five or six games. It's starting to pay off.
"This is a ballclub that's capable of winning 10, 12 games at a time, in a row."
One of the talking points of the first third of the season was about the drop in velocity on Arrieta's fastball.
Yes, there is some truth to that, but Arrieta found a few more mph Tuesday night, and he has been able to pitch around the drop of velocity.
"We're not talking about a whole lot of difference," Maddon said. "I still see a lot of 92-93 (mph) and the 94 compared to 93. 94, 95 maybe. It's still significant velocity.
"It's not like he's just flipping it up there. The biggest thing for me, I'll take what they call the effective velocity, throwing it where he wants to throw it. Those numbers play."
There were some 94s on the board Tuesday.
Cubs batters chased Marlins lefty Jeff Locke in the fifth, on Rizzo's homer and Heyward's hard-hit double.
They finished it off against the Miami bullpen in the seventh, sending 10 men to the plate. Heyward, Javier Baez and Jon Jay had big doubles in the inning.
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