Going into tonight's game, everybody and their brother had come to expect great things from Jake Arrieta. And they were right to. Unfortunately, this was not to be a good night for our ace. The Cardinals got to him for 4 runs, matching his total for the past 2 months. Luckily, we were the beneficiaries of an offensive explosion. It all started off when the Schwarbino went deep to get us on the board first. Then after Arrieta gave up the first two runs in the 4th, Castro went yard as well to draw us even. After we got another man on base, Bryant cleared the bases to put us up 4-2. That one chased the St. Louis starter. Next Batter: Anthony Rizzo. Another Home Run. The Bash Brothers are back, and this time they're clean. Arrieta then gave up 2 more runs, and his night was over. At this point we're leading the Cardinals 5-4, which isn't exactly the most comfortable of leads. Luckily, Jorge Soler proceeds to hit another ball over the fence, scoring 2 more runs. This also means that he has reached base in each of his first 9 postseason plate appearances(in case you were curious, yes this is a record). 2 innings later, Dexter Fowler decides to join the party and hits one out as well. After rolling through a few relievers, the Cubs handed the ball to Rondon to put the game away. Bad news: Rondon serves up a 2-run homer with 2 outs already recorded. Good news: Rondon then puts the next batter away to render that homer meaningless and make the Cubs a winner.
With all of that craziness, not only was Arrieta still the pitcher of record, but he actually got a win for this one. As so much digital and real ink has been devoted to saying already this season, these Cubs are different. On a night where Arrieta served up 4 runs, the offense hit six homers, more than have been hit in over 1,400 postseason games. The Cubs now enter Game 4 at Wrigley with a 2-1 series lead, and a chance to do something that hasn't been done ever: win a playoff series at Wrigley Field. Who knows how things will shake out, but it definitely will be historic.
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