Oct. 13--Cubs hitters said they owed Jake Arrieta one.
Arrieta had carried the Cubs so many times this season, especially during his historic second half. But Monday night, Arrieta was on the receiving end of assistance when he was not at his best.
"It was incredible, really," Arrieta said after being credited with the win in the Cubs' 8-6 decision over the Cardinals in Game 3 of the NLDS. "It was pretty obvious that the wind was going to be a factor today. (The Cardinals) had a really good approach, laid off some really nice cutters, sliders early in the count. They made me come in the zone with more hittable pitches."
Arrieta left with two outs in the sixth inning after allowing four runs on five hits and striking out nine. He walked two and hit a batter and threw 97 pitches. Left-hander Clayton Richard induced a ground ball back to the mound for the third out.
Arrieta labored early in the game, but Cubs hitters kept pounding away to provide a bit of a cushion.
"Guys were on point tonight," Arrieta said. "Picked me up. Huge team win."
Arrieta went 11-0 with a 0.41 ERA in 12 starts from Aug. 4 through the end of the season. It was the lowest ERA for any pitcher in that stretch since ERA became an official stat.
Cardinals manager Mike Matheny knew his team had an opportunity to take advantage of Arrieta's vulnerability.
"We put together some good at-bats," he said. "We were grinding against Arrieta all night and we did have opportunities."
Cubs manager Joe Maddon had become accustomed to simply handing the ball to Arrieta and watching him dominate through the late innings.
"You want to stay with that as long as you can," Maddon had said before the game. "He needs to be out there as long as he can be and as long as the game is trending in the right direction, as long as I don't think he's tired or coming out of his delivery badly.
"Those are normally my indicators to take somebody out. But a guy like him, you want to ride him as long as you possibly can."
The Cubs rode Arrieta until the Cardinals pulled to 5-4 on a two-run homer by Jason Heyward, who has worn out Arrieta during his career, batting .381.
"It's the postseason. That lineup had a good approach tonight," Arrieta said. "Very balanced, really, from top to bottom. There's really no breaks in that lineup.
"They made me battle and made me work for it. I was able to get out of some big situations. But that breaking ball that Heyward hit out of the park was a good 6 inches off the plate. So their approach, especially his, was pretty solid tonight."
fmitchell@tribpub.com
