The Chicago Cubs are heading to an NLDS showdown with their arch-rival, the St. Louis Cardinals. In Wednesday’s NL Wild Card game, the Cubs topped the Pirates 4-0 at PNC Park thanks to yet another dominant start from Jake Arrieta and a bombastic offensive performance from Kyle Schwarber.
Heading into the game, all the talk was about Arrieta’s recent run of dominance. And sure enough, he delivered. Through the first five innings of the game, only two Pirates reached base – Andrew McCutchen on a first inning single, and Francisco Cervelli on a fifth inning hit by pitch. By the time the fifth was over, Arrieta had tallied eight punchouts, and it looked like even one run would be difficult for the Pirates to push across the board.
There would be no such issues for the Cubs. Dexter Fowler led the first inning off with a single, stole second, and scored on a single by Kyle Schwarber, giving the Cubs a 1-0 lead before Arrieta even took the mound or Gerrit Cole recorded an out. Cole settled down and escaped the rest of the first and second innings without anymore damage, but in the third, Schwarber would strike again. After Cole struck Arrieta out to start the inning, Fowler singled to right and Schwarber followed that up with a titanic home run to make it 3-0 Chicago.
In the fifth, the Cubs added their fourth (and what would be their final) run of the night, courtesy of a solo homer off the bat of Fowler.
The sixth inning was Pittsburgh’s best chance to put some runs on the board. Joe Maddon moved Kris Bryant from left field to third and Austin Jackson from the bench to left at the beginning of the inning, and Arrieta started the frame off by allowing a single to Travis Snider. Gregory Polanco lined out to Bryant for the first out, a play that Tommy La Stella wouldn’t have had enough height to make. Arrieta then plunked Josh Harrison, and McCutchen reached on an infield single/error by Addison Russell to load the bases with one out for Starling Marte. Marte grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the frame and snuff out the Pirates’ sixth inning.
In the seventh, fireworks erupted. With two outs, Pirates reliever Tony Watson hit Arrieta, leading to both benches clearing and Sean Rodriguez getting ejected from the game (despite already being pinch hit for).
It would end up not mattering all that much. The Pirates put another runner on with none out in the seventh, but a 5-4-3 Aramis Ramirez double play snuffed out that threat. Michael Morse singled with one out in the eighth, but didn’t move off of first base. Arrieta set the Pirates down in order in the ninth to finish off his shutout and send the 98-win Pirates home after just one game.
For the night, Arrieta gave up four hits (none for extra bases), walked none, and struck out 11. The Pirates offense stranded five men, and went just 1/2 with runners in scoring position (or 0/2, depending on what the McCutchen ground ball in the sixth is scored as). Gerrit Cole was decidedly less sharp, allowing four runs on six hits in five innings, punching out four and walking one. For the Cubs, the top of the order did all the damage – Fowler went 3/4 with three runs and a homer, and Schwarber went 2/3 with three RBI and a homer. The rest of the team? Just 2/25 with ten strikeouts, zero runs scored, and zero RBI.
The Cardinals await the Cubs on Friday in St. Louis. Jon Lester will be taking the hill for Chicago, while the Cardinals will be countering with John Lackey. FORMER RED SOX TEAMMATES COLLIDE!
