Jake Arrieta Has Strong Season Debut In Cubs’ 2-1, Series-Tying Win Over Cardinals: Highlights

Jake Arrieta delivered six dominant innings in his season debut with the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday night, leading the reigning World Series champions to a 2-1 road victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.

Jake Arrieta Pitches Six Strong Innings In Cubs’ Win vs Cardinals

Alberta Almora Jr. and Javier Baez also provided solid defensive plays to help the Cubs tie the series with the Cardinals 1-1.

Second baseman Baez sealed the win when he stopped a grounder on the right field grass, and maintained his cool to nail Kolten Wong at first for the final out.

Almora jumped by the wall in the seventh inning to rob Matt Adams of what would probably have been a game-tying home run off reliever Koji Uehara. One inning earlier, the Cardinals were unable to take advantage of a bases-loaded opportunity.

“The catch to rob the homer was a game saver,” Arrieta said. “I owe Almora something for that.”

Almora, however, felt he already received his reward.

“The moment of the night was when I came in and Jake gave me a big hug. That was awesome,” said the center fielder, who will be 23 later this month. “The hug was fine.”

A pitching duel between Arrieta and Adam Wainwright began smoothly for both right-handers until the fourth inning. A one-out double and walk brought up Jason Heyward, whose bloop single just evaded backpedaling shortstop Aledmys Diaz for an RBI single.

A questionable decision by left fielder Randal Grichuk to throw home on the play allowed Wilson Contreras to race to third. From there, he scored Baez’s sacrifice bunt. Wawinright tossed 21 pitches in the inning and was out after five frames.

“I think the turning point in the game, obviously, their safety squeeze, I hesitated a bit to see if it was going to go foul and I should have just scooped it to him,” Wainwright said. “That was my fault. But it was a good game. They have a good team over there. We have a good team here. It’s going to be a good battle all year.”

Arrieta retired 13 of the first 14 batters he faced. The 31-year-old, who may be in his final season with the Cubs, needed just 44 pitches to make it through the first four innings before throwing his best pitches in tight jams in the fifth and sixth frames. Arrieta struck out his former Cubs teammate Dexter Fowler with the tying run at second to end the fifth, and then led Grichuk to to pop up to short with the bases loaded on his last pitch of the sixth.

“He’s tough,” said manager Joe Maddon, referring to Arrieta’s concentration with free agency coming shortly after this season. “He understands what’s going on.”

Two errors from Baez in one play helped St. Louis to a fifth-inning run, and chased right fielder Stephen Piscotty from the game after Piscotty scored just one run in the frame. However, Arrieta came back to trap five runners over his last two innings. Piscotty signed a six-year, $33.5 million contract with the Cardinals on Monday. The right fielder was hit on the right elbow by a pitch from Arrieta, and was then struck again on the left elbow on a toss from Contreras while successfully stealing second base, and finally hit a third time in the head. Piscotty exited the game with a head contusion and was to undergo a round of concussion tests.

Chicago scored their runs in the fourth inning when Addison Russell doubled, Contreras walked and Heyward singled in Russell. Baez’s short bunt scored Contreras.

Cubs righty John Lackey is scheduled to close the series against the Cardinals at 1:45 pm EST on Thursday at Busch Stadium. (The three-game series finale was originally supposed to be held Wednesday, but was postponed due to inclement weather)

Right-hander Lance Lynn, who spent last season recovering from Tommy John surgery, will play his first game on Thursday since October 2015 in taking the mound as the Cardinals’ starter for the team’s first series of the season.

ST. LOUIS, MO – APRIL 4: Starter Jake Arrieta #49 of the Chicago Cubs pitches against the St. Louis Cardinals in the second inning at Busch Stadium on April 4, 2017 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)