Nothing lasts forever, and one of these days Jake Arrieta is going to lose a game again. “Obviously he’s human,” catcher Miguel Montero said Saturday morning at Wrigley Field.
“He’s going to be off sometimes. You can’t just be nasty all the times he goes out there, which he has been. ... Jake is Jake.”
But until that day comes, it’s OK to imagine Arrieta’s hot streak lasting well into the summer, assuming summer ever arrives. The Cubs’ ace was not nasty all the time in Saturday’s 8-2 victory, but he was tough enough to hold the Pirates lineup hitless in seven of the eight innings he worked. Arrieta (7-0) is now 18-0 since last July, the fourth longest winning streak in the majors since 1913, behind Carl Hubbell (24), Roy Face (22) and Roger Clemens (20). He has allowed three or fewer runs in his last 28 starts, the most of any starter since 1893, when the pitching rubber was set to 60-feet, 6-inches.
“It’s very unusual what he’s doing,” manager Joe Maddon said, adding he hasn’t been as sharp as he could be this year. There’s another level of sharpness for him,” he said without irony.
Everyone has a bad start once in a while. Arrieta tends to limits his struggles to a bad inning here and there. On Saturday it was the fourth, when he gave up two runs on three hits but induced a 1-4-6-3 double play that deflected off his left foot to escape further damage. Anthony Rizzo’s three-run homer off Jeff Locke in the bottom of the inning put the Cubs on top, Addison Russell added a two-run shot in the sixth, and you know the rest of the story. Arrieta struck out 11 and retired the last 11 batters he faced.
Just Jake being Jake. “I was able to do some things effectively after the fourth inning,” Arrieta said. “Was aggressive with my fastball down in the strike zone, got some punch-outs looking with the fastball. And when I’m doing that, I know I’m in a pretty good spot.”
Though backup Tim Federowicz was capable behind the plate in Arrieta’s last two starts, Arrieta obviously was more comfortable on Saturday with his old pal, Montero, back from the disabled list. “I would hope so,” Montero said. “If he’s not comfortable with me, I don’t know. I’ve caught him a lot of times in his career. I can help because he feels a little bit more trust.”
Arrieta conceded he was “tentative” at times early on, but Montero told him: “Let it go. Stop trying to hold back and guide it. Use your aggressiveness and just pitch at the bottom of the zone.” Montero’s words were perfectly timed. “That’s exactly what I needed to hear from my guy back there,” Arrieta said. “And we kind of got it rolling from that point on.”
With White Sox ace Chris Sale leading the majors with an 8-0 record and Arrieta unbeaten as well, it’s anyone’s guess as to which one will blink first. Like Sale, Arrieta has been able to shrug off some distractions along the way, including speculation about him using PEDs, and the recent hub-bub over the lack of movement in talks to extend him past 2017, when he is to become a free agent.
The idea that Arrieta should accept a hometown discount to stay with the Cubs is as ludicrous as expecting President Theo Epstein to do likewise in his own contract talks with Chairman Tom Ricketts. Both have been game-changers in the organization. And both deserve fair market value for their contributions.
Rick Sutcliffe was in a similar situation as Arrieta after his 16-1 season with the Cubs in 1984. After finally re-signing, Sutcliffe told the Tribune he stayed for less than he was offered from the Padres. “The thing might never have stopped,” Sutcliffe said of the bidding war. “It was crazy. I finally got sick of seeing my name in the papers, and having reporters camped out on my front yard all night at our house.”
Hopefully the Cubs get a deal done before it gets that far, as we don’t want to mess up Arrieta’s front lawn. But for now, the only pressing issue for the Cubs is Sunday’s series finale, when Jon Lester hopes to complete another sweep of the Pirates. With a nine-game cushion over their division rivals and the series already in the bag, a team can get complacent.
Results
Cubs 8, Pirates 2
Yankees 2, White Sox 1
Red Sox 6, Astros 5 (11 innings)
Twins 6, Indians 3
Nationals 6, Marlins 4 (first game)
Related Story