Jake Arrieta of the Chicago Cubs through the first no-hitter of his career Sunday Night, as the Cubs beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-0 in Los Angeles. It is the first no-hitter thrown by a Cubs starter since Carlos Zambrano did it in 2008. Arrieta’s is the sixth no-no tossed this season. Arrieta walked just one and fanned 12 batters en route to the complete-game gem of a win.
The 29-year old Arrieta has enjoyed a career renaissance since coming over to the Cubs from the Baltimore Orioles. In his four seasons with Baltimore, Arrieta never finished with an ERA below 4.66. In three seasons with the Cubs, Arrieta has yet to post an ERA higher than 3.66. In the last two seasons, in particular, Arrieta has established himself not only as the unequivocal ace of the Cubs staff, but as one of the best pitchers in baseball and, this season, as a legitimate Cy Young contender.
Arrieta’s coming out party took place last season. Across 25 starts and 156.2 innings, Arrieta sat down 167 batters on strikes and walked just 41. He finished the year with an outstanding 2.53 ERA and a minuscule 0.99 WHIP.
Little did the baseball world know, Arrieta had not yet begun to pitch. In 2015, he has somehow managed to surpass his otherworldly numbers from a year ago. Arrieta has pitched 183 innings, holds a record of 17-6, and has already struck out 190 with over a month to go. And despite having pitched 25.1 more innings than he did last year, he has walked just three more batters. His 2.11 ERA and 0.94 WHIP rank second and third, respectively, in all of baseball.
For Arrieta and the Cubs, the union could not be going any better. The Dodgers, on the other hand, certainly wish he had remained with the Orioles. This was the second time in the last nine days that the Dodgers have been no-hit. Mike Fiers of the Houston Astros did it back on August 21st.
Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images
