Arrieta ends torrid month with no-no

LOS ANGELES — Jake Arrieta had been building toward this moment. He’d come close to holding opponents hitless three times last year in a breakout season with the Chicago Cubs.

Finally, it happened. And near Hollywood, no less.

Arrieta threw the second no-hitter against the Los Angeles Dodgers in 10 days, leading the Cubs to a 2-0 victory Sunday night.

He struck out a season-high 12 and walked one, becoming just the third opposing pitcher to achieve a no-hitter at Dodger Stadium.

“He’s starting to create more buzz around him,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. “To do it under these circumstances, in this ballpark, against this team, with a pretty good audience, that should pretty much put him on everybody’s radar.”

With 46,679 in attendance — including his wife and two kids — and a national television audience looking in, Arrieta became the first 17-game winner in the majors this season by throwing the 14th no-hitter in Cubs history.

“It’s something I’ve wanted for a long time,” he said. “I’ve been close on a couple of occasions, and tonight I was just fortunate that everything aligned right.”

Arrieta (17-6) became the first Cubs pitcher since 1950 to take a no-hitter into the seventh inning three times in one season last year. Arrieta had 10 wins last season after going 4-2 in nine starts for the Cubs in 2013, when he was acquired from Baltimore that July.

At 29, the right-hander is blossoming a little later than some big league pitchers.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody work any harder,” Maddon said. “He has come a long way from Baltimore, where he really had command issues with the fastball but always had good stuff.”

Arrieta sensed his time was ending with the Orioles, who had drafted him in 2007 out of TCU and called him up to the majors in 2010. He quickly found a home with the Cubs.

“The comfort level was there from the getgo, so it was a seamless transition,” he said.

Kris Bryant’s two-run homer in the first gave Arrieta all the offense he would need.

Making history proved a fitting ending to August for Arrieta, who was 6-0 with a 0.43 ERA in the month, allowing just two earned runs in 421/3 innings.