10 Interesting Facts About Jake Arrieta's No-Hitter

On Sunday night, Chicago Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta became just the 14th man in team history to throw a no-hitter as he shutout the Los Angeles Dodgers in a 2-0 victory.

It took Arrieta 116 pitches to complete his no-hitter, but he made some unique and interesting history along the way.

Without further ado, here are 10 fun facts about the no-hitter, and where it stands in the pantheon of Cubs history.

1. Arrieta’s no-hitter is the 14th in Cubs history, and he becomes the first Cubs pitcher to throw one since Carlos Zambrano threw one against the Houston Astros in the 2008 season. That season also represents the last time that the Cubs made the postseason.

2. Arrieta’s no-hitter is only the second for the Cubs since the 1972 season, when Milt Pappas and Burt Hooton threw no-hitters just four months apart. For good measure, Ken Holtzman threw a no-hitter in the 1971 season.

3. According to ESPN Stats and Info, the Los Angeles Dodgers are the first team in baseball history to throw two no-hitters in one season and to be no hit twice in the following season.

4. The Dodgers were just no-hit nine days ago, but that is not the MLB record for shortest span between no-hitters. In fact, it’s only the fourth fastest, trailing the 1884 Pittsburgh Alleghenys (five days), 1923 Philadelphia A’s (three days), and 1917 Chicago White Sox (one day) in that category.

5. According to ESPN Stats and Info, there were 15 no-hitters thrown during the 2000’s. There have already been 30 thrown in the 2010’s.

6. Sunday’s game marked the 14th consecutive game in which Arrieta has registered a quality start (three or fewer earned runs in six or more innings pitched). The last Cubs pitcher to accomplish that feat was Greg Maddux, who did it in his Cy Young winning season in 1992.

7. The month of August was very kind to Arrieta. In six starts for the month, he went 6-0 with a 0.43 ERA. According to Elias Sports Bureau, the last pitcher to match those numbers was Jim Kaat, who went 6-0 with a 0.35 ERA in September 1974.

8. Stats guru Bill James developed a scoring system called “Game Score” to measure pitching performance, and Arrieta’s score was a 98. That number represents the highest score a Cubs pitcher has achieved since Kerry Wood registered a 105 as he struck out 20 Houston Astros on May 6th, 1998, according to Christopher Kamka of CSN Chicago.

9. There have been four no-hitters thrown in National League parks this season. Of those four games, the starting pitcher registered a hit in all of them, according to Christopher Kamka.

10. Arrieta became the second pitcher this season to strike out the side in the final inning of a no-hitter, joining Chris Heston of the San Francisco Giants. The last pitcher to accomplish the feat before Heston and Arrieta? Sandy Koufax when he threw a perfect game against the Cubs at Dodger Stadium in 1965. 

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