Chicago Cubs rally for 8-7 win in 13th
For all of the so-called ups and downs Cubs ace Jake Arrieta has "endured" this season, he has put together a nice season.
Arrieta entered Monday night's start against the Pittsburgh Pirates riding a personal four-game winning streak and with a record of 16-5 with a 2.62 ERA.
Not too shabby.
Things fell apart late, and quickly, for Arrieta on Monday. After looking strong in the early innings, he gave up a 3-run homer to Gregory Polanco in the sixth, an opposite-field blast to left that vaulted the Pirates into a 4-3 lead.
The game wound up going to extra innings, and the Pirates went ahead 7-6 in the 13th on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly by Josh Harrison against rookie reliever Rob Zastryzny.
But the Cubs tied it in the bottom of the inning on Anthony Rizzo's RBI single. After an intentional walk to Ben Zobrist loaded the bases, pinch hitter Miguel Montero singled to left field, scoring Kris Bryant and giving the Cubs an improbable 8-7 victory.
In the seventh, Arrieta gave up a leadoff single to David Freese and a walk on a close pitch to Francisco Cervelli. After Arrieta got a forceout, Cubs manager Joe Maddon turned to lefty Travis Wood, who gave up a 2-run double to Josh Harrison following a strikeout of Matt Joyce. The Cubs came back with 2 in the eighth on a homer by Willson Contreras, and they trailed the Pirates led 6-5 entering the ninth.
Jorge Soler's homer tied the game in the bottom of the ninth. Rizzo hit into a fielder's choice to first base in the bottom of the 10th. Pirates first baseman Sean Rodriguez stepped on the bag and threw home. Cubs baserunner Javier Baez was called out at the plate. Replay upheld the call for a double play.
Arrieta worked 6⅓ innings, giving up 5 hits and 6 runs, as his ERA rose to 2.84.
Despite it all, with some more good pitching in September and a little run support, Arrieta has a real shot at winning at least 20 games for the second straight season.
"It doesn't happen in most places," manager Joe Maddon said. "We've all been over him a little bit about command issues, but the overall numbers are spectacular. He set the bar so high for himself last year. It's pretty much unachievable to do that two years in a row. So give him credit for being able to maintain this high standard of pitching, not being exactly perfect this year, but still being really good."
Arrieta faced the minimum nine batters through the first three innings against the Pirates, giving up only a first-inning walk to Josh Bell, who ended the inning being thrown out trying to steal.
The Cubs scored once in the first against Pirates starter Steven Brault and twice in the third. Bell picked up Pittsburgh's first hit off Arrieta with a one-out solo homer in the fourth.
Most important, according to the Cubs, will be keeping Arrieta and the rest of the starters fresh for the stretch run and the postseason. That could include anything from a six-man rotation to simply more rest for the rotation.
"It's something we've discussed for a while now," team President Theo Epstein said of a six-man rotation. "Certain things have to break our way to put it into play. But we're going to get our starters rest in one form or another whether it's watching their pitch counts more closely than usual or using spot starts or going to a full-blown six-man. I don't think we're committed to any one way of doing it. We just want to make sure we put our guys in a position to be at their physical best going down the stretch."
Call-ups coming:
September 1 is Thursday, and teams may expand their active rosters up from 25. The Cubs are expected to add a handful of call-ups.
"The guys who are going to come up, they're going to get some playing time," Joe Maddon said. "The guys coming up are going to be good. I've always talked about, in a bad game or a really good game, to get guys off their feet. That's important. All those things considered. Whoever we're going to bring up right now, they're going to be pertinent people who are going to be able to help us win, also, right now."