OSS: “I recalled the line from the Bhagavad Gita – I am become Jake Arrieta, destroyer of worlds”
Three up
- Pitcher vs team stats are dumb, but Arrieta is almost as much of a bogeyman for Pirates fans as he is to Orioles fans at this point. His only hiccup was with the pirates mini-rally in the fourth, after that he settled down and retired every Pirate he faced through to the end of the eigth inning, other than opposing pitcher Jeff Locke, for some reason. His final line was 8 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 11 K.
- Rizzo had the big home of the day, a three run blast immediately following that hiccup that put the Cubs in the lead to stay, and Addison Russell hit a two run shot in the sixth to further extend the lead. I was surprised to see that Russell has ‘only’ four home runs this year, he’s already had a season’s worth of cluth hits.
- Jason Heyward went 3-4 with a walk, scoring two runs.
Three down
- Jake’s pitches still have crazy movement on them. At least, I’m guessing from the passed ball and wild pitch in the play by play, I was out watching Civil War during this game. Montero did a better job than FedEx did on Sunday but it’s kind of a strange development.
- Jorge Soler went 0-3…I’m running out of stuff to complain about.
- I’m not wild about this whole three catcher thing, even if it is only temporary until Szczur gets back.
Next up: Lester vs Cole. If the Cubs win, they will push the Pirates to ten games back. Is there a Ten Back Rule?