NEWSLETTER
That’s 11. Terrible pitching. Terrible defense. Another blowout. Scored a decent number of runs, I guess?
Jake Arrieta allowed the first four to reach tonight, with the fourth being Andrew McCutchen hitting a grand slam. It was too perfect(ly awful). Once again, Arrieta couldn’t finish the second inning. His spot in the rotation was already past due, and with Trevor Williams now back and pitching tonight, it would be fairly easy to have him take the Sunday start on regular rest. Even if it was a short outing for him, it’s not as if the Cubs are getting 5+ out of Arrieta at the moment. It’s all sad and disappointing, but we have to be real.
Williams looked better than Arrieta, though he was clearly shaking off some rust. Rex Brothers was serviceable, and Brad Wieck once again looked dominant – in his first inning, anyway – pretty much exclusively with the four-seamer (it’s fascinating). The defense didn’t help anyone tonight, but 15 runs … yeah, that’s some rough pitching.
It was an offensive explosion, though most of the Cubs’ scoring came long after the game was over. Javy Báez continues to look like a different guy out there, staying on pitches so well (including and especially the ones he sent out 422 and 408 feet tonight). And hey, Robinson Chirinos hit his first homer with the Cubs – he signed with the org as a teenager 21 years ago – so that’s kinda fun.
But the tale of this one is the probable farewell …
