CUBS 4, INDIANS 3
Curveball comes back
Right-hander Jake Arrieta has talked all spring about working on his mechanics and delivery to get to a place where he felt comfortable. He looked comfortable Thursday against the Indians, making his best start of the spring.
Arrieta, 35, allowed one run and four hits in four innings. He struck out five and walked none.
Much of Arrieta’s strikeout success against the Indians came with his curveball. Three of his five strikeouts came on that pitch.
‘‘The curveball is a really important weapon for me,’’ Arrieta said. ‘‘Making some delivery adjustments, especially with my direction to the plate, has helped that pitch be a lot more effective. And today it was good; it was really good. I was able to throw it for some swings-and-misses. And also to start the count, to get ahead, rather than exclusively leaning on the fastball.
‘‘Everybody at this level can hit the fastball. So being able to [throw] some breaking balls in hitters’ counts and especially early in counts, it’s going to be a big addition for me. It’s something that I didn’t do very well the last couple of seasons. So to show progress with that today, yes, it was indeed very good.’’
On deck
Cubs at Athletics, 3:05 p.m. Friday, Mesa, Zach Davies vs. Frankie Montas.