Arrieta sick, disagreement erupts in dugout as Cubs lose second straight in SF
When the Cubs headed to the West Coast for a challenging road trip, manager David Ross said he wasn't going to make any definitive judgments about the team's performance when they're not healthy.
The starting pitching was supposed to be healthy. But after giving up 6 runs in the second inning of the Cubs' 8-5 loss in San Francisco on Friday, Jake Arrieta said he was demonstrably under the weather.
“Before the game, I was pretty sick,” Arrieta said after the game. “Apparently what I had for lunch today made me pretty sick. Threw up before the game and then a few times after I came out of the game. Was really weak, tried to go out there and do what I could. Wasn't able to unfortunately, put us in a big hole. It wasn't a good night.”
Arrieta said he never considered scratching himself from the start.
“I wasn't going to do that,” he said. “I thought I was capable of going out there and doing a little bit more. Didn't really have my legs underneath me. Just not a great day.”
There is one injury in the starting rotation, with Trevor Williams out after an appendectomy. Ross said Williams is with the team in San Francisco, and Kohl Stewart will get his second Cubs start today against the Giants.
So there were a few alarming signs for the Cubs early in this series, although the rough spots were certainly amplified by the fact the Cubs played so well before heading out West. They lost the opener on Thursday 5-2.
“I know historically in my career, it's been a difficult road trip when you come out here,” Ross said. “I don't know that there's anything I can put my finger on to say this is why, or else we'd try to change that.”
On Friday, the Cubs got off to a nice start in the first inning against veteran Giants starter Scott Kazmir, who is back in the majors after a five-year absence. Willson Contreras led off the game with a single, then Kris Bryant launched a 2-run homer to left.
But in the second inning, Arrieta gave up a pair of home runs — a 2-run blast by Steven Duggar and 3-run homer by Alex Dickerson.
“I haven't been great the last couple times out,” Arrieta said. “We'll get past that. I totally expect to be a lot better and get back on track.”
The Cubs bullpen wasn't as sharp as it has been, either. Keegan Thompson gave up 2 more solo home runs Friday as San Francisco went ahead 8-4.
Joc Pederson added a 2-run homer for the Cubs in the fourth inning, his second in two days.
Later in the game, TV cameras caught an argument in the Cubs dugout. Contreras sat down after an inning and slammed his equipment down. Then there was a discussion with Anthony Rizzo that appeared to get a little heated, with Ross pushing the two away from each other and steering Rizzo toward the tunnel.
“Just the competition and what's at stake and everything,” Rizzo said. “The beauty of this team is we know each other and have played with each other for so long. We could have those brotherly love conversations and it's just onto the next.
“We were down in the tunnel a little bit talking and it ends there and we just move on. With our relationships here, it's easy to talk to each other like we're brothers. I love Willson.”
Ross also downplayed the dugout dust-up.
“Sometimes you're not going to see eye-to-eye,” Ross said. “I think that's pretty normal in the environment in the big leagues. We've got a close-knit group and that usually is when those kind of things happens. When you've got guys that know each other, care about each other and are passionate and have emotion. I don't think it's anything that's a huge deal or anything I'm extremely worried about.”
Twitter: @McGrawDHBulls