Jake Arrieta appeared mortal. At least that was the case early on, but a Josh Harrison grounder that appeared destined for a single ended that.
Arrieta clearly was not pitching his best in the fourth inning and paid the price for it.
In that fourth inning, Arrieta allowed two earned runs to the Pittsburgh Pirates for the first time since Sept. 13, 2013 and with Francisco Cervelli on third base after a wild pitch, seemed destined for a third run.
That third run never came, and the Pirates fell by an 8-2 score.
For his part, Arrieta was frustrated and hit Jung Ho Kang hard toward the lettering of his jersey. The pitch shook Kang up but the mental affect that had on Arrieta arguably was greater.
Still, luck was not on the Pirates side, though. It rarely ever is when a team faces Arrieta.
Harrison’s sure fire single instead took a detour off Arrieta’s foot towards Ben Zobrist’s waiting glove. The double play ended the rally.
Still, with the way Jeff Locke had been pitching of late, a 2-0 lead with the wind blowing in seemed safe, right?
Wrong.
As if that bounce was not enough of a sign of the free fall which was to come, Jason Heyward’s at-bat may have been the final nail in the coffin.
Heyward had a softly hit ground ball just past Locke’s glove. Harrison attempted to make a hero play diving on his throw to first base, but Heyward was ruled safe.
First base umpire Todd Tichenor did not indicate that the throw drew John Jaso off the first base bag and hesitated to rule Heyward safe.
Pirates manager Clint Hurdle thought about challenging the play but decided against it. Replays appeared to show Heyward was out.
Even if Hurdle had decided to challenge and lost, it still would have given his team a chance to refocus but that chance was lost and play continued.
Locke had Kris Bryant in an 0-2 count but lost him to a walk. The pitch which was ruled ball four led to some displeasure from the Pirates dugout.
It only took two pitches for Anthony Rizzo to give the Cubs a 3-2 lead, as he lofted a ball that cleared the rightfield wall.
Locke ended up walking Zobrist and out came pitching coach Ray Searage.
His dialogue was not with Locke so much as home plate umpire Brian Knight. Searage did not look at Knight while voicing his displeasure, but it didn’t matter. Searage was tossed.
Locke had to finish the inning and bullpen coach Euclides Rojas was not able to come to the dugout until the inning break.
The scoreboard read Cubs 3 Pirates 2, but the lead was far more with Arrieta on the mound and the Pirates letting both the Cubs and Knight affect them.
That was the game.
Now, the Pirates are 0-5 against the Cubs this season.
This weekend will be looked as a missed opportunity where simple mistakes led to big innings.
That’s not to say the outcome may have been different but at least would have been more competitive.
It shows that a team with big aspirations has more work to be done.
Up next
Gerrit Cole (3-3 3.78 ERA) will be tasked helping the Pirates to avoid the sweep with Jon Lester (4-1 1.96). Cole has a 7-2 career record against the Cubs with a 3.39 ERA in 10 starts. Already this season Cole took a loss to the Cubs allowing six runs (five earned) on 4.2 innings.
