Arrieta moves to 9-0 despite rare poor start
Wednesday afternoon in St. Louis, the Cardinals did something no team has done in the regular season since last May: they scored more than three runs against Jake Arrieta. The Cardinals put four runs on the board against Arrieta in five innings, ending his historic streak:
Jake Arrieta’s streak of 29 straight regular-season starts w/ 3 or fewer RA is over. It was longest such streak in MLB history. @EliasSports
— Baseball Tonight (@BBTN) May 25, 2016
By Game Score, a measure credited by Bill James, Wednesday’s game was Arrieta’s worst start since May 7 of last season, when he allowed five runs (four earned) in 5 1/3 innings to these same Cardinals. Wednesday’s game had a Game Score of 40. The game last May had a Game Score of 38.
It’s been 383 days since Arrieta last pitched as poorly as he did Wednesday, and he wasn’t even that bad. I mean, four runs in five innings isn’t great, but it’s not dreadful either. When that’s your worst start in more than a year, you’re doing pretty well. Here are Arrieta’s seven worst starts with the Cubs by Game Score:
| Date | Opp. | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | HR | Game Score |
| 8/6/14 | @ COL | 5 | 13 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 8 |
| 8/21/13 | vs. WAS | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 29 |
| 5/8/14 | @ CWS | 4 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 30 |
| 8/28/14 | @ CIN | 4 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 30 |
| 8/26/13 | @ LAD | 5 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 37 |
| 5/7/15 | @ STL | 5 1/3 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 38 |
| 5/25/16 | @ STL | 5 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 40 |
The average Game Score is about 50, by the way. Only 15 of Arrieta’s 77 starts with the Cubs have featured a Game Score of 50 or worse. He’s been outrageously good with Chicago, but you knew that already.
Of course, Arrieta’s rough afternoon did not hurt the Cubs all that much. They beat the Cardinals anyway (CHC 9, STL 8) and Arrieta improved to 9-0 on the season. Not too shabby. He no longer leads MLB in ERA, however. He’s second to Clayton Kershaw now (1.48 to 1.72).
