The Chicago Cubs got a good start from Jake Arrieta, while Javier Baez used his wheels to motor around the bases for an inside-the-park home run in the Cubs 5-3 win over the Giants.
The Chicago Cubs‘ Jake Arrieta continued his success against the San Francisco Giants improving to 5-2 in his career against them. He wasn’t as sharp as his last start but scattered nine hits and three runs (two earned) over 6 1/3 innings to help give the Cubs a 1 1/2 game lead over the Milwaukee Brewers who lost earlier in the evening.
The Cubs (59-52) didn’t get the best out of Arrieta (11-8, 3.83), but his effort was good enough. The bullpen was able to shut the Giants (44-70) down in the final 2 2/3 innings. After allowing a two-run home run to Ryder Jones–the first of his career–, the Giants added one more unearned run in the seventh off of Arrieta. From there, Joe Maddon turned it over to the pen without incident as they closed out the victory for the Cubs.
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Baez gets in-the-park home run
Giants’ starter Matt Moore (3-12, 5.88) saw his already high ERA climb even higher against the Cubs. It seems like forever ago that he had that strong start against the Cubs in Game 4 of the NLDS before the Cubs rallied to win that game. The awkward angles of AT&T Park proved costly early as Baez drove a ball to deep right center field, bouncing off the wall and away from Carlos Moncrief. Baez came all the way around to score on an inside-the-park home run to give the Cubs a 2-0 lead.
A RBI single in the fifth from Anthony Rizzo followed later by a RBI single from Albert Almora gave the Cubs all they would need to take the opener of the series 5-3. Pedro Strop came in and worked his way out the tough spot he was put in. And Brian Duensing and Wade Davis worked the eighth and ninth innings as the Cubs got the win.
What’s Next
The Cubs will play another late game tonight as Jose Quintana (6-9, 4.42) faces Ty Blach (7-7, 4.24) at 9:05 p.m. CT from AT&T Park tonight. The Cubs will look to build on their NL Central lead that currently sits at 1 1/2 games over the Brewers.