Jake Arrieta suffers his first regular season loss in nearly a calendar year
The D-backs hung an "L" on Arrieta on Sunday, which hasn't happened in regular season play since last July
By
Dayn Perry
•
1 min read
The Cubs on Sunday suffered a rare loss, as the visiting Diamondbacks prevailed by a score of 3-2 (box score). Rarer still is that the D-backs hung said loss on Cubs uber-ace Jake Arrieta. Here's some proof ...
| CHICAGO CUBS | ||||||||
| PITCHER | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
| Jake Arrieta (L, 9-1) | 5.0 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 12 | 0 | 1.80 |
Nothing wrong with those strikeout numbers, to say the least, but the batted balls were falling in against Arrieta on Sunday. Hence, the loss.
Speaking of which, that's the first time Arrieta has been credited with a regular season loss since way back yonder on July 25, 2015, when his opposite number, Cole Hamels, twirled a no-hitter for the Phillies. That's a span of 24 regular season starts. The Cubs ended this most recent homestand with an 8-2 mark. Bizarrely enough, both losses came in games started by Arrieta. Prior to that first Cubs loss, they'd won 23 in a row with their ace on the mound.
Overall, Arrieta's 2016 numbers remain deeply impressive: 1.80 ERA, only one unearned run allowed in 80 innings, groundball percentage of 57.9, 28.0 K%. That said, he's seen a bit of an erosion in terms of his peripherals, mostly because of a bit of a spike in his walk rate. Sunday was also the fourth time in 12 starts this season that he's allowed three or more runs. Obviously, that's not concerning for your normal hurler, but the standards are higher for the reigning NL Cy Young winner.
