Arrieta works magic to get the job done
CLEVELAND — Sometimes, this can be the most uncomplicated game of all. Sometimes, you hand a baseball to a pitcher and there really is only one request to make during that transaction: Get this done. Get us to the weekend. Get us back home. And sometimes, the man with the ball in his hands simplifies things even more. That’s what Jake Arrieta did Wednesday night at Progressive Field, the Cubs facing another moment of truth in this extraordinary postseason already stuffed with them. The Cubs got Arrieta an early lead, kept building on it, and that was good. Arrieta started collecting outs. He started off by teasing the Tribe, then ransacked them. And that was better. He allowed a couple of walks in the first, looked like he was missing his spots by about 4 feet, escaped. Then he retired nine in a row. Then you looked up at Progressive Field and it was the bottom of the sixth inning, and the home team still didn’t have a hit. “I had my foot on the gas a little too much early, I was amped up,” Arrieta would say later, when this 5-1 Cubs victory was in the books, when his mission was complete and his team had pulled even in the World Series. “After that inning I settled down and pitched well.” It was 5-0 by the time. Jason Kipnis broke up the no-no with a double with one out in the sixth. Arrieta himself broke up the shutout, wild-pitching Kipnis home before he was lifted after 98 pitches and 5 2/3 innings. Get this done, the Cubs had implored him, get them to the weekend, back to Wrigley Field, tied at a game apiece. He got it done. And Wrigley ought to be some sight to behold come the weekend. “He had a hard time gripping the baseball and his command was scattered at times,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. ”But he was also outstanding.” The whole night had an odd buzz to it. Tuesday had been exclusively about Cleveland — an extended party at Progressive during a 6-0 Indians win in Game 1, an even more raucous gathering next door at Quicken Loans Arena, the Cavs burying the Knicks. Wednesday there were more than a few thousand loud, engaged Cubs fans on this night, and they kept up their commotion across all nine innings.
Factor in that the game started an hour early thanks to an ominous weather report, and it felt like everyone was playing a 33 ¹/3 RPM record at 78. Get it done, get it in, make it quick, hop the plane to the Windy City.
In truth, Arrieta has had a batch of difficult times during the last two postseasons. He was brilliant in the wild-card game against Pittsburgh last year, then got cuffed around by the Cardinals and Mets. The Dodgers slapped him around in this year’s NLCS, touching him for four runs in five innings.
That’s the kind of thing the Cubs simply couldn’t afford Wednesday night. Back in the NLCS, it had been John Lackey who had stepped up in Game 4, with the Cubs trailing the Dodgers 2-1 in games, and if he hadn’t turned in a masterpiece he had pitched into the fifth and kept them in the game long enough for the Cubs to take control of the game.
It was only the most important game of the year so far for these Cubs, who have now won 111 times. Now they needed Arrieta to bookend that.
And he did. He stayed warm any way he could in between innings, hopping on the exercise back, pacing the pathways between the dugout and the clubhouse. The Cubs kept nicking the Indians for runs. And the Indians couldn’t return the favor.
“Quality pitches at the bottom of the strike zone,” Arrieta said, referring to his singular goal on the night. ”I knew I hadn’t given up a hit. But that’s not the focus this time of year. Just keep piling up outs.”
And so it was. The Cubs go back to Wrigley tied 1-1 in this Series, and it ought to be a weekend for the ages. Yes. Arrieta got it done.