Pirates hope to cool Cubs' Arrieta (Aug 29, 2017)
CHICAGO -- Jake Arrieta looks to extend his sensational second half run when he takes the mound for the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Wrigley Field.
The Cubs took the opener of the three-game series 6-1 on Monday.
Arrieta (13-8, 3.49 ERA) is 5-1 with a 1.78 ERA in his past eight starts. He has limited foes to a total of 10 earned runs in that span, allowing no more than two in any of the eight outings.
It is the kind of performance that recalls Arrieta's 2015 Cy Young Award-winning season, when he went 22-6 with a 1.77 ERA in 33 starts.
"Mechanically, I've been pretty good and staying back, giving myself time and allowing myself to get on top of the baseball and drive it down through the strike zone," Arrieta said recently. "If I do that, it creates difficulty for the hitter with sink and being able to establish multiple breaking balls."
Arrieta leads the Cubs in wins and is coming off an Aug. 24 no-decision in which the Cubs lost a lead and suffered a 4-2 setback at Cincinnati. He still allowed just one earned run over 5 2/3 innings in that game.
"I still have my best pitching ahead of me," he said. "A lot of guys are in the same boat from our arm standpoint. But certain guys in the lineup, there's room to improve, and we've picked it up lately. ... If we can pick it up, we're going to be in good shape."
Arrieta is 0-2 with a 4.50 ERA in three starts against Pittsburgh this season. He has a career 9-5 record with a 3.18 ERA in 18 regular-season outings vs. the Pirates. He is 4-2 in eight starts against them at Wrigley Field.
The Pirates counter with right-hander Chad Kuhl (6-9, 4.52 ERA).
Kuhl is 4-3 with a 3.30 ERA in his past 11 starts. He took the loss in his last outing, a 5-2 setback to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday. Kuhl gave up two runs on six hits while walking five and striking out two over four innings.
"Firing off 94 pitches in four innings, it pretty much tells you that we're not making a lot of quality pitches," Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said. "There were some nice sequences, but not enough of them."
Kuhl is 0-3 with a 13.20 ERA in five career starts against the Cubs and 0-1 in two starts vs. Chicago in 2017. He made an emergency start for Jameson Taillon on July 9 at Wrigley Field on two days' rest, ending with no-decision after allowing one run over three innings pitched.
He is among six starting pitchers the Pirates have employed this season, the fewest among any major league team. The club record for fewest starting pitchers is seven in 1902, 1972 and 1997.
The three-game series concludes Pittsburgh's six-game road trip, which began with two wins in three games at Cincinnati. The Pirates return to PNC Park on Friday to open a three-game series with the Reds. The Cubs remain home to play the Atlanta Braves in a four-game series that opens Thursday.
The teams meet for the final time this season from Sept. 4-7 at PNC Park.
