Cubs' Arrieta proves he's human, allows a run

You may have heard that Cubs ace Jake Arrieta is good. Well, he faltered a bit — just a bit, as many pitchers would have been pleased with his outing — on Thursday during a 7-2 Cubs win, ending two streaks that were getting up into historical territory.

First off, he did allow a hit to lead off the game, so he wasn’t going to tie Johnny Vander Meer’s record of two straight no-nos. That wasn’t one of the two streaks that was broken, though.

In the top of the fifth, the Brewers scored on an Alex Presley double (MLB.com video). That ended a Wrigley Field record streak of 52 2/3 scoreless innings. The last time he allowed a run at home during the regular season* was last July 25. Elias Sports Bureau reports that this was the second longest home scoreless streak since 1900.

*Yes, Arrieta allowed runs during the playoffs in Wrigley Field during Game 3 of the NLDS. All streaks of this matter are kept as regular-season streaks, so don’t be that guy who brings this up as if the streak doesn’t count.

Next up, Arrieta’s quality start streak (again, regular season*). He was pulled by manager Joe Maddon after five innings. That means no quality start (at least six innings pitched with three or fewer earned runs). His last non-quality start came last June 16. Of note here is that he was approaching Hall of Famer Bob Gibson’s record:

Given the baseline he’s set for himself, this was a bad outing for Arrieta. As previously noted, however, many pitchers would take this:

W, 5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 6 K

That’s a 1.80 ERA and 1.40 WHIP with more than a strikeout per inning. The walks are high, but otherwise a very good start. For Arrieta, though, it’s not up to the standard he’s set since that June 16 start last season.

Jake Arrieta gave up a run on Thursday, which was notable. (USATSI)

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