Levine: Arrieta Loses, Cubs Get Swept By Cardinals
By Bruce Levine--
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Despite having their best pitcher on the hill, the Chicago Cubs weren't able to avoid a loss Wednesday and were swept for the first time this season.
The Cardinals earned a 7-2 win over the Cubs at Wrigley Field, chopping three games off of Chicago's lead with the series sweep. St. Louis leaves town trailing in the NL Central by 9.5 games.
Cubs ace and reigning NL Cy Young winner Jake Arrieta certainly deserved at least a no-decision. An 11-game winner, he had pitch count issues that forced him out after 104 pitches and five innings of work. After the Cardinals loaded the bases in the fifth with one out, Arrieta induced what looked like an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play.
But Cubs second baseman Ben Zobrist bounced a throw into the dirt that Anthony Rizzo couldn't handle. Two runs scored on the play.
Arrieta came out after the fifth inning. The Cubs bullpen allowed five more runs in the sixth as the Cardinals put this game out of reach.
Lately, the at-bats have changed against the Arrieta and a minor adjustment will need to be made.
"It's been pretty noticeable for me," Arrieta said about teams showing more patience early in the count. "(Miguel) Montero and I have talked about it quite frequently. We know how to handle that. It is really not a bad problem to have. We are seeing guys standing there with the bats on their shoulders early in the count. That type of thing will favor me moving forward."
This was the fifth time Arrieta lasted only five innings this season.
Chicago had lost three straight just once in 2016 before this series. With injures to multiple players and minor aches and pains for many -- including Rizzo leaving the game with back stiffness -- the Cubs losing three games to the second-place team isn't the end of the world.
The early cache of great play that led the Cubs to a 12.5-game division lead when the Cardinal series began still has set Chicago up with plenty of breathing room.
"We are in a good spot," said Arrieta, whose record moved to 11-2 with the loss. "We are going to take our lumps sometimes early in the season. In May, we lost several in a row. The mindset stayed the same. I don't see this being any different. We will adjust. We have had to deal with some adversity. This is about how we pick each other up and bridge the gap until the other guys get healthy. We will have to rely on some other guys, but we are capable of doing that."
The Cubs are now 0-5 in the final game of homestands this season. The last time they dropped three straight was May 21-23 against the Pirates and Giants.
"You never want to be swept by anyone," Rizzo said. "That is especially true against the Cardinals, who we have played really well against the last couple of years. They came in here and just beat us. It was big for them.
"It was the only thing they could do. They can 't worry about what we are doing. To get back into a race, you have to beat the team that is ahead of you. They did. They are a championship team. They know how to win, and you can never count them out."
The Cubs are now 4-20 when scoring fewer than four runs in a game this season.
Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score and CBSChicago.com. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.