ARRIETA STUMPS PIRATES
Bucs have no answers as Cubs ace puts on a pitching clinic in win
PITTSBURGH— All he had to be was himself, which sounds so soothing, except that being himself means being the best pitcher in major-league baseball.
And save the Cubs’ season while he was at it. Oh, and if it wasn’t asking too much, be right in the middle of a bench-clearing brawl. Thanks for all that, Jake Arrieta. A one-game wild-card playoff is the lowest rung of the postseason, but don’t kid yourself. It’s Game 7, do or die, win or go home. And in the face of that Wednesday night, Arrieta was mostly calm, mostly cool and mostly unhittable, coming through in a 4-0, complete-game victory over the Pirates.
The Cubs are headed to St. Louis for the first two games of a five-game series because Arrieta is a rough, tough, kale juice-drinking victory machine. Anyway he can pitch three times against the Cardinals?
Lord, what a crazy night in Pittsburgh.
The Pirates couldn’t hit Arrieta, so they hit him. That might sound like something Yogi Berra would have said, but it happens to be factually accurate.
Pirates pitcher Tony Watson, upset his team was down 4-0 or that Arrieta had hit two batters or both, hit the Cubs’ ace in the seventh inning, causing both dugouts to empty. Much shoving ensued. Pirate Sean Rodriguez lost his wits, got ejected and punched out a Gatorade dispenser. Arrieta has that effect on people. The Pirates had absolutely no idea against him on Wednesday night. None. You’d think after seeing him five times in the regular season, they would have found some weakness. But no. Itwas still mystery theater at PNC Park. Sliders breaking downward violently. Curve balls making grown men lose heart. Fastballs coming in at 97 mph. Same plot, same result. Eleven strikeouts, no walks, four hits.
Arrieta threw 113 pitches, not that it mattered.
“Taking Jake Arrieta out of that game would have been tantamount to taking Bob Gibson out of a playoff situation or a World Series performance,’’ Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. “I would say in my experience, as a kid growing up, I saw Mr. Gibson out there [Wednesday night].’’
“I didn’t want to see anybody in the bullpen,’’ Arrieta said. “I wanted to finish what I started and be the guy to get the last out.’’
When Cubs rookie Kyle Schwarber mashed a Gerrit Cole pitch out of the park for a two-run homer in the third inning— and gave a most excellent bat flip in the process— the game was over.
Arrieta with a 3-0 lead? Like a tank against shrubbery. Cole was gone after five innings. And then came that manic seventh inning, when both teams threatened to rumble like two posses at a title-fight press conference. The Cubs are the brash newcomers to this whole winning thing, and, depending on the day and the opponent, they are either trying to establish their territory or having their toughness challenged.
The Pirates thought Arrieta was throwing at them with a four-run lead in a wild-card playoff game, which is insane. They saw a pitcher who was ahead of the count most of the game. They saw intent when he hit Francisco Cervelli in the seventh. They were seeing things.
“You’ve got a pitcher that’s . . . throwing four pitches for strikes and Cervelli gets pitched hot up top,’’ Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said. “I don’t think anybody was a fan of that.’’
Emotions were running high for obvious reasons. There was so much to this one game. A bad game wouldn’t have negated Arrieta’s spectacular regular season, but it would have added some wistfulness to it. If only, we would have said.
Instead, Arrieta did what Kerry Wood, Mark Prior and others weren’t able to do in the past. With a season on the line, he delivered. Check that. First he trash-talked Pirates fans via Twitter, then he delivered.
“You guys and ladies have heard him speak about this moment in advance and how confident that he was,’’ Maddon said afterward. “Some people considered it almost on the braggart side, flagrant, but for me it’s just self-confidence.
“. . . He’s just a different cat. Namath guaranteeing a Super Bowl victory— that’s all I could think of the last couple days.’’
Broadway Jake? Not with that beard. More like Backwoods Jake.