Arrieta not far from winning form of last 2 seasons

LOS ANGELES - The Chicago Cubs woke up Friday in first place once again, and that seemed a dose of normalcy, based on recent history.

The Cubs returned to Dodger Stadium, where they won two of three games last October in the National League championship series on the way to a World Series title.

Jake Arrieta was on the mound against the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the "normal" for 2015 and most of 2016 for Arrieta was dominance.

It's not been quite the same this year. He entered Friday's game 5-3 with a 4.80 ERA. The Dodgers got home runs from Chase Utley and Adrian Gonzalez off Arrieta on the way to a 4-0 victory.

Arrieta worked 6 innings, giving up 5 hits and 4 runs while walking one and striking out 9. The Cubs were outhit 5-2.

"The biggest difference with Jake, a couple miles per hour and just overall command," said manager Joe Maddon. "A couple years ago, when he nailed it, (he was) so pitch-efficient. Fastball was a strike all the time. He's gotten better the last couple times out. I'd say the two biggest differences are, between Cy Young and really good Jake, is fastball command and maybe a tick or two velocity wise."

This is a contract year for Arrieta, and tens of millions of dollars are at stake. On hand for the game was his agent, the powerful Scott Boras, who gave his take, albeit as a man who has Arrieta as a client.

"You kind of take for granted guys that are pitching at that level year after year after year," Boras said. "Then you go back and say, 'Wait a minute, he's not and he's not and he's not and he's not.' And yet, Jake's out there doing what he does."

Boras downplayed any dip in fastball velocity Arrieta may be experiencing this year.

"Well, if that's a dip in velocity going from by 1 mile an hour ... the issue, I think, for him, is his mix of pitches, his location," the agent said. "(The Nationals' Max) Scherzer, everybody was telling me his velocity dropped off, and by midseason, he was throwing harder. I can't grade velocity in a month. I grade it over a two-season (period). He's at 93, 92.7. That's plenty of velocity."

As far as any pressure of pitching in a free-agency year, Boras said Arrieta has been there and done that, in a different, yet important, way.

"The dynamic of winning two World Series games and things like that, I'd say he's won the award of being measured when you win World Series games," he said. "That's the thing that you find, many of the great ones, as good as they are, they've never achieved that, and he did it not once but twice. If you want me to measure pressure, I'd say that's World Series (guts). When the postseason hits, that's Jake's greatest measurement. I heard winning World Series in Chicago was difficult. That (Arrieta's pitching) may have aided. I don't know."

Arrieta was locked in a nice duel with Dodgers lefty Alex Wood (6-0, 1.69 ERA). The Dodgers scored first when Utley led off the bottom of the third with a home run to center field. They added 1 in the fourth an RBI double by Yasmani Grandal. Gonzlez hit a 2-run homer in the sixth.

"Couple mistakes," said Arrieta, who fell to 5-4 as his ERA went from 4. to 4.92. "Really one pitch away in the sixth with two outs. Just caught too much plate on a 3-1 count to a good hitter. For the most part, it was really good. It was."

Maddon stood by his guy.

"Really, Jake was fine," he said "The bad count on Gonzalez led to the home run. Just a different presentation to the game. They pitched well. Wood was good. Their bullpen was good. Good baseball game. They got homers. We didn't.

"I thought he was sharper today overall. I thought command was good. I thought his curveball was outstanding. My analysis with the homers would be he's getting in some counts, and he's making mistakes. They're not missing. Maybe the velocity, not 95, not 93, might bleed into that a little bit. There's nothing to criticize there. They just hit a homer."

• Follow Bruce's Cubs and baseball reports on Twitter @BruceMiles2112.