Cubs catcher Montero blames Arrieta for Nationals' 7 stolen bases
WASHINGTON - This was billed as a pitching matchup between the most recent two Cy Young Award winners in the National League.
What it turned into was a track meet, with the Washington Nationals running all over pitcher Jake Arrieta, catcher Miguel Montero and the Chicago Cubs.
The Nationals, taking advantage of a Cubs battery not exactly charged to limit the running game, stole seven bases without being caught once in the first four innings on the way to a 6-1 victory at Nationals Park.
Montero is 0-for-31 in throwing out runners this year, but he blamed his batterymates.
“It really (stinks) because the stolen bases go with me,” he said. “When you really look at it, the pitcher doesn't give me any time.
“So it's like, 'Yeah, Miggy can't throw nobody out, but my pitchers don't hold anybody on … If I don't get a chance to throw, that's the reason they were running left and right today because they know he (Arrieta) was slow to the plate. Simple as that.
“It's a shame that it's my fault because I didn't throw anybody out.”
Montero was asked if he talked to Arrieta about it.
“We talk every year in spring training, but it's frustrating because it seems like nobody really cares about it, like, 'OK, I got to pitch, and if they run, they run. I don't care,'” he said.
Nationals starting pitcher Max Scherzer, last year's Cy Young winner in the NL, had a decidedly better night than Arrieta, the 2015 recipient.
Arrieta lasted just 4-plus innings as his record fell to 7-6 and his ERA rose from 4.36 to 4.67. He gave up 6 hits and 6 runs (5 earned) while walking six. He also uncorked a wild pitch.
Scherzer pitched 6 innings, and when he left the game, he had as many hits at the plate as the Cubs did as a team: 2.
Most troubling for the Cubs had to be the Nationals' unbridled running game. Trea Turner stole a pair of bases in the first and third innings, scoring each time. Anthony Rendon had 1 steal, and Michael A. Taylor had 2.
There looked to be little the Cubs could do about any of it.
“When Turner's on the bag, you try and be mindful of that,” Arrieta said. “Pick, vary your holds. He's fast.”
The Arrieta-Scherzer matchup was supposed to be one more interesting part of a four-game series that could possibly be a playoff preview.
“Not where I want to be, obviously,” Arrieta said. “Just move forward and try to be better. Last start (in Miami) was more indicative of the way I'd like to throw as far as commanding the strike zone.”
As for Scherzer, he improved to 9-5 with a 2.05 ERA.
“I can pitch at his level,” Arrieta said of Scherzer. “I just haven't done it consistently. He's been very good, obviously, throughout his career. It's been up and down. I've had a couple good ones, a bad one, a couple good ones, a bad one.”
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