Arrieta looks to recover from subpar NLDS start
NEW YORK — The beard, the swagger, the biceps and the nasty stuff are all still there.
But Cubs ace Jake Arrieta will take the mound Sunday without the aura that backlit his starts for the last three months.
The right-hander, who set a major-league record with a 0.75 ERA after the All-Star break, starts Game 2 coming off a division series start against the Cardinals in which he gave up as many earned runs (four) as he had in his previous 13 starts combined.
“He’s not going to be perfect every time,” manager Joe Maddon said. “But I like the idea that he’s got a little extra rest going into this start. I’m anticipating a lot of what we’ve seen the last couple of months.”
Arrieta, a top Cy Young contender, admitted on his side day after the Cardinals start that the adrenaline high and energy drain during the day of his start might have contributed to the command issues.
“Early in the day, you’re trying to conserve energy, but almost anytime you start to think about the game — your approach, the way you’re going to attack that lineup — you’re starting to expend some energy,” Arrieta said. “And I would catch myself — heart rate starting to go up — even when I was just kind of hanging out. Those are things you learn how to control.”
He’ll try to remedy that by starting those thought processes and prep work closer to game time.
Meanwhile, the elephant in the room anytime Arrieta doesn’t look overpowering is the season workload that has exceeded his previous career high by 67 innings.
Arrieta said physically he’s fine. But Maddon admitted that the innings count crossed his mind at times during the Cardinals start, in which Arrieta was lifted in the sixth.
He has thrown 243⅔ innings with as many as four starts left, including a potential Game 6 in this series.
“That game [Monday] pretty much taught me to just watch him,” Maddon said. “Don’t go in with any kind of preconceived thoughts. Just watch him and then try to react accordingly.”
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