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NL wild card: Jake Arrieta shuts out Pirates as Cubs advance to the NLDS

Mark Townsend
·Yahoo Sports Contributor

The Chicago Cubs aren't done yet. With their 4-0 victory against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Wednesday's NL wild-card game, they have advanced to NLDS and will now ace their NL Central rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cubs rode the right arm of Jake Arrieta, who completely over matched the Pirates offense. Once Kyle Schwarber launched a two-run homer into the Allegheny River, Pittsburgh was too far buried to possibly recover.

• Jake Arrieta said the Pirates' fans plans to rattle him wouldn't work. He was right. Nothing could faze him, not even getting hit by a pitch and being right in the middle of a bench-clearing incident during the seventh inning. The Cubs ace silenced a rabid PNC Park crowd time and time again on his way to a four-hit shutout. Arrieta struck 11 and needed just 113 pitches as his historic second-half run continued in the postseason.

(AP)
(AP)

• World, meet Kyle Schwarber. The Cubs rookie slugger had his coming out party on the national stage, driving in each of Chicago's first three runs. Schwarber started the scoring with a first-inning RBI single. In the third inning, he followed by launching a memorable two-run homer that exited PNC Park and landed in the Allegheny. Schwarber is an absolute monster, and potentially the biggest difference maker in a remarkable young lineup. Look out, baseball, he's loose in October.

• The top of Chicago's order really set the pace in this game. Leadoff man Dexter Fowler picked up three hits in the game, including a fifth-inning home run. He added two singles, a stolen base and scored three runs.

• Gerrit Cole was one of the game's best pitchers all season, but just couldn't overcome Chicago's 1-2 hitters. Dexter Fowler and Kyle Schwarber combined for five of Chicago's six hits against Cole — including the two home runs — and scored all four runs he allowed. The other Cubs were 1-for-14 with one walk.

• Pedro Alvarez was benched to start the game for defensive purposes, then entered when Clint Hurdle needed offense and went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts.

The Pirates had one chance to crack Arrieta in the sixth inning. After loading the bases on a single, an error and a hit batter, Starling Marte came to the plate with a chance to tie the game on one swing. Instead, he ended the inning, hitting a hard smash that shortstop Addison Russell sucked up and turned into a 6-4-3 double play.

When the going gets tough, Jake Arrieta only gets tougher.

And don't dare hit him with a pitch, or he'll embarrass you.

• The bench-clearing incident in the seventh inning may end up overshadowing the game, which would be too bad. Pittsburgh's decision to retaliate directly against Jake Arrieta after he unintentionally hit Francisco Cervelli and Josh Harrison with curveballs that got away will not reflect well on them. Their frustrations clearly got the best of them.

[Related: Benches empty in NL wild-card game after Jake Arrieta hit by pitch]

• The lineups will cause some debate as well. While Pirates manager Clint Hurdle went safe, fielding his best defensive lineup, Cubs skipper Joe Maddon went bold with his lineup, opting purely for offense against Gerrit Cole. Maddon's strategy paid off. Even though Kyle Schwarber was out of position in right field, his offense paced the Cubs victory. On the other side, Hurdle was backtracking off his strategy just three innings in, pinch-hitting Pedro Alvarez for Sean Rodriguez.

The Chicago Cubs advance to the NLDS to face the one team that finished with more regular season wins, the St. Louis Cardinals. Game 1 is at 6:30 p.m. ET Friday at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. We already know the Redbirds will be starting veteran John Lackey (13-10, 2.77). The Cubs are expected to counter with Jon Lester (11-12, 3.34). The Cardinals won the season series, going 11-8 against the Cubs, though the Cubs did take six of the last nine meetings. They also come in one fired up bunch after Wednesday's victory.

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!