With a massively struggling Jake Arrieta on the mound against a completely dominant Corbin Burnes, this game was over before it started.
Jake Arrieta's last four starts: 11.1 IP and 16 earned runs on 26 hits and 7 walks against just 11 strikeouts.
Corbin Burnes' last four starts: 25.1 IP and 7 earned runs on 22 hits and 6 walks against 29 strikeouts.
— Michael Cerami (@Michael_Cerami) August 11, 2021
And then it was over again immediately after it started.
Jake Arrieta allowed 7 runs on 8 hits in the first inning tonight (he also hit a batter … though it counted as a strike on the swing), and that was pretty much that. Except it also kind of wasn’t.
Sure, you’d like to THINK the low point of a game would come after the Cubs served up seven first-inning runs, but then Corbin Burnes struck out 10 straight batters, tying the Major League record, en route to a 15 strikeout night. And he was almost unbelievably efficient, reaching 14 strikeouts with just 72 pitches. That is incredibly difficult to pull off. Even against the most strikeout prone team in baseball.
The lone bright spot for the Cubs tonight was Michael Rucker, who came in to relieve Arrieta and struck out five straight batters over his 3.0 scoreless innings. This doesn’t matter quite as much without a reason to win, but he saved the bullpen and he looked dang good doing it.
Codi Heuer also got an inning of relief tonight and although some of his stuff looked nasty (that’s not really a question), his command was spotty and he allowed a ton of hard contact (two of his OUTS were line drives over 103 MPH). In a 10-0 ball game, maybe he was just trying to get it over with, but yeesh.
There’s another tough pitching matchup in store for the Cubs tomorrow (Brandon Woodruff), but at least they have Kyle Hendricks on the mound.