Chicago Cubs: Jake Arrieta receives an extra day off following rain out

Chicago Cubs right-hander Jake Arrieta was scheduled to take the mound tonight against the Philadelphia Phillies, but the city of Brotherly Love was hit by a massive storm which resulted in the game being postponed according to Carrie Muskat on Twitter.

Following the loss to the St. Louis Cardinals yesterday, being able to keep themselves within three games behind the Pittsburgh Pirates in the N.L. Central and Wild Card race would have been a plus.

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Instead, Arrieta will receive an extra day off to rest and prepare himself as he may take the mound in tomorrow evening’s showdown.

He’s riding a fantastic performance over the last month, earning himself N.L. Pitcher of the Month honors for August after finishing with a perfect 6-0 record with a superb 0.43 ERA.

There’s no doubt that he’s made a serious case for himself when it comes to the N.L. Cy Young award race this season, joining the likes of Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw who may have the edge on him.

With around three weeks left, there’s plenty of time for him to improve his numbers. A scoreless outing in his next performance could drop his ERA to or below two while picking up his 19th win during the process.

And once it’s time to square off against the Pirates in that one-game Wild Card playoff at the end of the year, he’ll be the one called to take the mound to help boost his team even further into the postseason.

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As of right now, the Milwaukee Brewers lead the Pirates by two runs in the bottom half of the seventh inning and the Reds are cruising at home with the first-place Cardinals in town, leading that game 6-0.

Both teams losing tonight will surely help this club remain where they are without having to worry about losing any ground. All the Cubs need to do this weekend is sweep all four games from the Phillies.

Muskat also notes on Twitter that these two clubs will find themselves in a doubleheader tomorrow with the first game starting at 4:05 p.m. central time.

Game 2 could see Kyle Hendricks taking on Alec Asher who sits with an earned run average over 10. He’s been tagged for 11 earned runs on 16 hits across 9 1/3 frames since making his big league debut back on Aug. 30.

Next: Castro firing on all cylinders since demotion