Can routine dominance become boring? From 1991 through 2005, the Atlanta Braves won 14 consecutive National League East division titles. During the first nine of those seasons, they finished lower than fourth in NL home attendance just once. In the next five seasons, they never finished higher than sixth in attendance, and twice finished tenth. Braves fans had become accustomed to regular season greatness, and no longer showed up en masse to witness it firsthand. The team was not boring, but sustained, historical excellence had become commonplace.
This is not to suggest Jake Arrieta is boring or to diminish his continued run of historical proportions, which continued on a gloomy, overcast night along the banks of the Allegheny River. Rather, it’s meant to highlight the ridiculous heights a pitcher has reached when seven shutout innings and just four baserunners allowed seems like another day at the office. Arrieta’s dominance has become that routine that an efficient, brilliantly pitched game can seem ucommonplace.
Arrieta began his night with walks of John Jaso (aka Brendan Fraser from Encino Man) and Andrew McCutchen. It was the first time in his career he walked the first two batters of the game. Arrieta would allow just two base runners the rest of the way and pick up five strikeouts, en route to his sixth win of the season.
The Cubs offense entered the night with an offense that has struggled to hit for power against lefthanded pitchers (.345 slugging percentage was third-worst in the National League), but against Jon Niese, who in 2015, posted the worst DRA (5.47) and DRA- (128) of 78 qualified starting pitchers, they hammered nine hits in five innings. Kris Bryant had three hits, Tim Federowicz reached base three times, and six Cubs hitters knocked in a run. They’d finish with 11 hits.
Trevor Cahill worked the final two innings, and a 7-1 Cubs win clinched a series win at PNC Park. Keep reading below to see how it all went down.
Top Play (WPA): Entering the night, Arrieta owned a career .444 slugging percentage when swinging at the first pitch. Niese entered the night with opposing batters slugging .588 combined against his fastballs (fourseam, sinker, and cutter). You can probably guess where this is going. In the top of the second, with one out, the bases loaded, and a run already in, Niese left a first pitch fastball up and over the plate. Arrieta jumped all over it, lining the fastball back up the middle for a base hit and scoring Ben Zobrist with what proved to be the game winning run (+.083).
Bottom Play (WPA): How much of a wire-to-wire win was Tuesday night? After Dexter Fowler led off the game with a base hit, Jorge Soler grounded into a 6-4-3 double play (-.072). That was the nadir of the Cubs evening.
Key Moment: In a game relatively devoid of drama, the Pirates mounted a quasi-threat in the eighth inning. Relieving Arrieta, Trevor Cahill gave up a leadoff single to Sean Rodriguez, and a Addison Russell throwing error on a Chris Stewart groundball put runners on the corners with nobody out. Cahill then bared down, striking out Jason Rogers, inducing a Jaso groundout (on which Rodriguez scored), and finishing the inning by punching out McCutchen. Cahill surrendered a run, but the threat, however brief, was neutralized.
Trend to Watch: Arrieta’s labored through the first inning in consecutive starts. Against the Milwaukee Brewers, he needed 31 pitches while giving up a hit and two walks. Tonight, he threw 20 pitches while issuing two free passes. Of course, even when Arrieta struggles, he does not surrender a run. In 2016, Arrieta has yet to give up a run in the first three innings of a game.
Up Next: Hey, hey, we get some day baseball as the Cubs look to finish off a sweep of the Bucs. Jon Lester gets the ball for the visitors. He was tremendous against the Pirates last season, posting a 1.57 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, and .567 opponent’s OPS in three starts. The Pirates counter with right-hander Juan Nicasio, who has averaged just over five innings per start, but posted respectable numbers (3.88 FIP and 1.15 WHIP). He relies primarily on a four-seam and slider against both righties and lefties. First pitch is scheduled for 12:35 EST.
May is about 72 hours old, and the Cubs have already made their presence felt in the home of their division rivals. The Pirates television broadcasters said repeatedly the home team was being “pushed around” by the Cubs. There’s nothing routine about this kind of dominance.
Lead photo courtesy Charles Leclaire—USA Today Sports
Don’t forget Baez’s brilliant and graceful defense at 3rd.