Chicago Cubs Jake Arrieta Dominates Crosstown White Sox

Jake Arrieta of the Chicago Cubs put on a show for the fans at Wrigley Field on Sunday. Arrieta pitched a complete game gem allowing just one earned run, two hits, and no walks while striking out nine against the Chicago White Sox. For most pitchers that would be enough, but Arrieta decided to add a little more by hitting a fifth inning home run off of Jose Quintana. The home run was Jake’s first in the big leagues. MLB.com is reporting that Arrieta wasn’t quite satisfied with his first dinger, but he will take it.

“I would’ve liked to have hit the first one knowing it was a homer instead of having to sprint to first. It was cool to do it at home during a day game right before the break and finish the whole game. It’s a special day.”

The win gave Arrieta 10 on the season and it allowed the Cubs to go into the All-Star break on a good note. The Cubs are seven games over.500, but are only in third place in the tough National League Central. The St. Louis Cardinals have been on fire all season long and the Pittsburgh Pirates have won 12 of their last 15 games to put distance between themselves and the Cubs.

Arrieta has taken over the position of ace of the Cubs staff. Coming into the season, everyone thought Jon Lester would be the man after signing a huge free agent contract. Instead, Jake is the real ace and he is comes at the much smaller price tag of $3.6 million. Arrieta also made a case for making the All-Star team, but he never got the call. Arrieta is taking it all in stride though, as the Washington Post reports Jake already has plans for his break.

“Those individual accolades are great, but I know that my teammates, they can count on me to come up big for us. I thought about that stuff a little bit several days ago, but you know, it’s out of sight, out of mind now. I’m actually looking forward to having a couple days off, doing some things with the kids.”

Chicago Cubs fans will still have plenty to watch during the All-Star festivities even if Arrieta got snubbed. As reported on earlier at the Inquisitr, both Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo will be participating in the home run derby, and both will be part of Tuesday night’s game. As for Jake Arrieta, he might be reading bedtime stories while Bryant and Rizzo are playing, and he seems to be okay with that.

[Image by David Banks/Getty Images]