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Chicago Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta pitched a 116-pitch no-hitter, the first of his career, as the Cubs beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-0 on Sunday night.
The Cubs took the lead in the first inning, when Kris Bryant swatted the ball over the left-field wall after a Chris Denorfia walk.
Enrique Hernandez and Jimmy Rollins were the only batters who managed to get on base for the night for the Dodgers, with Hernandez reaching after a fielding error by Starlin Castro in the 3rd inning and Rollins earning a walk in the sixth.
Justin Turner began the 9th inning for the Dodgers and struck out swinging and Rollins went down looking for the 11th strikeout of the night, a new season high for Arrieta, before Chase Utley stepped to the plate.
Arrieta, who joined the Cubs in midseason in 2013, upped his season mark to 17-6 with a 2.11 ERA. The no-hitter was the 6th of the 2015 MLB season, following similar efforts by Chris Heston, Max Scherzer, Cole Hamels, Hisashi Iwakuma, and Mike Fiers.
The Dodgers became the first team to get no-hit twice in a month since the 1971 Cincinnati Reds after getting blanked by Fiers on August 21. Arrieta’s effort marked the 14th in the club’s history, and the first since Carlos Zambrano‘s in 2008.
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With this outing, Arrieta finishes August with a 5-0 record and 0.54 ERA for the month for the Cubs, who move to 74-55, 3rd in the NL Central but good for a 5.5 game lead over the San Francisco Giants in the Wild Card race.
