Ace right-hander Jake Arrieta was aiming to duplicate his previous outing but the game was postponed.
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Thanks to a “slightly erratic” sinker and 31-pitch first inning, Arrieta also saw his franchise-record streak of 24 consecutive quality starts snapped two short of Bob Gibson’s five-decade-old record.
The latest was ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith who called out Arrieta on Wednesday, just hours before he’s scheduled to pitch against the Milwaukee Brewers. Arrieta’s no-hitter just so happened to be Ross’s first career no-no.
So later on this afternoon, it will be Jake Arrieta squaring off against Taylor Jungmann with Jon Lester taking the mound on Friday. We’re going to have to look hard at how to help him. The streak was second only to the Chicago White Sox’s Ray Herbert, who went 54 innings without a run at Comiskey Park from 1962-’63.
Arrieta wasn’t ideal, but the Cubs have now won his last 18 regular-season starts. Arrieta’s streak ended with two out in the fifth inning on a single to Jonathan Villar, who stole second and scored on Alex Presley’s double.
“Obviously, our most important ballgames are still ahead of us”.
The postponement came with the Cubs leading the majors with a 15-5 record – their best 20-game start since 1907 – and Arrieta producing one of the best stretches baseball has ever seen. “We’ll try to start another one”. “And until you win the division outright and you make yourself a pennant victor, and you represent the league in the World Series, I don’t think you can anoint yourself yet”.
He gives up a broken-bat single to Villar to lead off the game before most of the crowd could say Johnny Vander Meer. I care about the integrity of the game.
Arrieta acknowledged he’s “not accustomed” to the extra days off.
Arrieta (4-0, 0.87 ERA) is coming off last week’s no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds and Jungmann (0-3, 8.47 ERA) has lost his last three starts while allowing 15 earned runs.
“He’s very matter-of-fact. He’s very self-confident”, Maddon said.
“I think he’s got it down”.
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“So when he answers the question, he can answer them in a genuine manner, and feel really good about himself”.
