The Chicago Cubs won over the Pittsburgh Pirates in the NL Wild Card game on Wednesday to advance in the MLB playoffs and they will now face the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Divisional Series. Jake Arrieta pitched a brilliant game, pitching all nine innings and shutting out the Pirates.
The Cubs came into the game as the visitor after finishing one game behind the Pirates in the standings, but they started off fast and did not look back. The team scored in the first inning and Arrieta was able to pitch out of some early jams and was locked in, striking out 11 batters in the game. Arrieta gave up just four hits to the Pirates, who also were shut out last season in the wild card game.
The Cubs won a postseason game for the first time since back in 2003 and the team had lost nine straight in the playoffs leading into the wild card. The Cubs saw young star Kyle Schwarber lead the way with three RBIs and a towering home run, while Dexter Fowler had three hits and added an RBI with his home run in the fifth. The Cubs now will face the Cardinals, a divisional rival, in the division series, and that will start on Friday with Game 1 at 6:30 pm ET on TBS.
The game had some notable moments, including in the top of the seventh inning after Arrieta was hit by a pitch by Tony Watson. The benches cleared and later Sean Rodriguez was ejected and while both teams got in each other's faces, it did not turn into an all-out brawl and the sides were eventually calmed down. The Cubs now will have a chance to get back to Wrigley Field to play a game this season and they are matching up with a team they know very well in the Cardinals.
Gerrit Cole pitched for the Pirates and he simply could not match what Arrieta did in the game. Cole said he couldn't hit on certain pitches and he ended up giving up home runs after not giving up any top the Cubs in 27 innings this season, according to MLB.com. Two Pirates players were hit by Arrieta and that led to the Bucs retaliating on Arrieta later in the game. Either way, the Pirates were frustrated, as they now have not scored in two straight wild card games.
Arrieta had an amazing run down the stretch of the season and now he has carried that into the playoffs. The Cubs were the second wild card team, but only by one game and they actually had the third best record in baseball this season and a better record than both the Mets and Dodgers, who are playing in the other NLDS series.
"I'm never trying to hit or hurt anybody," said Arrieta after the game, according to ESPN. "Balls were slick tonight. I just lost it a couple times. It kind of ran away from me. I expected that. They're going to take care of their own guys. It's understandable. Everything after that was fine."
Check here for the MLB playoff standings and more on the Cubs and Pirates.
