Jake Arrieta sighting: Cub righty returns to form in rout of Marlins

Jake Arrieta gave up a hit to the second batter he faced Tuesday night and the last.

In between, he looked more like the pitcher who averaged 20 wins the last two seasons with a Cy Young Award and an All-Star appearance than the pending free agent whose market value seemed to be slipping by mid-May.

Ka-ching.

The only two hits Arrieta allowed turned into the only runs he allowed in a 10-2 victory over the Marlins. The performance might have signaled he has turned the corner.

“Just his look,” manager Joe Maddon said. “He’s getting a little bit more comfortable out there.”

Arrieta walked three, including back-to-back walks in the first that contributed to the first run. But his velocity was consistently around 94 mph, his new-and-improved curveball was effective again and he retired 16 in a row and 17 of 18 until J.T. Realmuto’s leadoff triple in the seventh.

He has a 2.63 ERA in his last four starts and said his sinker felt as sharp as it has all year once he started leaning on it after the high-pitch-count first inning. If this is the Arrieta the Cubs get the rest of the season, it could be the cure to what has ailed their premier-turned-middling rotation.

“That’s what we were built off the last two years,” Maddon said. “We had the runs last year, whatever. But the starting rotation has really driven the engine for us. These guys are good. They’re starting to look like they have in the past, all of them.”

For now, it means a five-game winning streak for the Cubs after that ugly road trip on the West Coast.

And a different vibe in the dugout, Maddon said: “A little more reminiscent of the last two years.”

That’s no accident, Arrieta said.

“Anytime you go through a period like we did on our last road trip, it kind of increases the sense of urgency a little bit,” he said. “Not necessarily pressing or trying to do more than we’re capable. Just maybe trying to get locked in a little more as far as our mental approach and just focusing exclusively on that and allowing our ability to show through without added pressure. We’ve been doing that the last five or six games, and it’s really starting to pay off.”

It also coincided with a players meeting in San Diego before the final game of that trip — a 2-1 loss despite a strong start by Arrieta.

“It was good to get together and just kind of talk,” said Kris Bryant, who reached base four times and scored twice. “But I wouldn’t say it was absolutely the reason [for the streak]. It’s just that sometimes it’s important to get together and talk about what’s frustrating certain people. That’s something we do individually. In San Diego, it was more as a group.”

Whatever that did for the team psyche, and whatever a four-run fifth and six-run seventh might mean for an up-and-down lineup, the Cubs’ playoff chances almost certainly will be determined by their starting pitching.

“It felt like our pitching carried us last year, and right now it feels really good on that side,” said Bryant, who walked ahead of Anthony Rizzo’s go-ahead three-run homer in the fifth.

And few things would look as good to the Cubs and their ascending rotation as Arrieta on a roll into the summer.

Follow me on Twitter @GDubCub.

Email: gwittenmyer@suntimes.com

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