Fourteen months removed from throwing the first no-hitter of his career, Chicago Cubs right-hander Jake Arrieta again takes the mound at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday night in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series.
The historic night included some controversy as then-Cubs second baseman Starlin Castro was charged with an error on a bullet hit by Kiké Hernandez. Multiple players from both teams remarked after the game they believed it should’ve been ruled a hit.
The Dodgers’ lineup in Game 3 figures to include four players who failed to get a hit off Arrieta.
“It’s going to be a different game, different experiences all the way around,” he responded when asked to compare the Aug. 30, 2015 start to Game 3.
“But, you know, I’ll use some of the experience from my last time out here moving into [Tuesday]. But at the same time, it’s completely different game, obviously, with being in the postseason. It’s going to be a little different feel. But at the same time, for the most part, it’s just about the same lineup.”
The Dodgers lineup Arrieta faced in his no-hitter:
SS: Jimmy Rollins
2B: Chase Utley
1B: Adrian Gonzalez
RF: Andre Ethier
LF: Carl Crawford
C: Yasmani Grandal
CF: Joc Pederson
3B: Kiké Hernandez
P: Alex Wood
Justin Turner entered as a defensive replacement and struck out in his lone at-bat. Arrieta set a season high with 12 strikeouts. The 5:00 p.m. PT start time led to shadows eventually creeping over the Dodger Stadium field.
The same will eventually hold true during Game 3, with first pitch slated for 5:08 p.m. “I really think it can be difficult to pick up spin, especially, you know, once the shadows kind of creep in between the mound and home plate,” Arrieta said.
“So really from a pitching perspective, you want to be aggressive early because of the fact that it is a little bit more difficult to pick up some rotations and spin on pitches when the shadow’s kind of in between, and as it starts to creep out to the mound. So I think really it’s an advantage for the pitchers early on in the game.”
Arrieta went on to win the NL Cy Young Award. He didn’t duplicate the same level of dominance in 2016, but the Cubs also took preventative measures to keep Arrieta fresh for October.
“I think last year I was also more so than I think being drained physically, I think the mental side of it,” he said.
“So I think going through that last year has prepared myself as well as the rest of the guys mentally for a longer run this year, and I think we’ve been able to handle the moments mentally a lot better as well as physically.”
The 30-year-old tossed seven shutout innings with eight strikeouts against the Dodgers this season at Wrigley Field. He didn’t factor into the decision of a game Los Angeles scored late on the Cubs’ bullpen to come away with a 5-0 victory.
