Jake Arrieta First Pitcher to 20 Wins

By the time Arrieta was two strikeouts into retiring the side in the ninth, the full-house crowd at Wrigley was on its feet in deafening support.

And it wasn’t the first time he turned to nature.

We’re not saying the Cubs are the reincarnated version of the Giants, but with Arrieta on the mound, he can personally ruin anyone’s season in a one-game wild card format. Dexter Fowler followed up Castro’s RBI double with a two-run double that ricocheted off the second base bag.

The Cubs broke it open in the seventh with pinch-hitter Jorge Soler clubbed a three-run homer off left-hander Cesar Jimenez.

MIAMI – Right-hander Aaron Harang earned his first win since July 30, and Cody Asche hit two solo homers to lead Philadelphia to a win over Miami at Marlins Park.

The National League has taken notice, with Arrieta lowering his ERA to 1.88 and putting together 18 straight quality starts, an unbelievable run that included his no-hitter against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He lacked control in the first but survived with minimal damage after throwing two wild pitches, walking two and allowing two hits, then retired the side in order the next four innings – once with the help of a double play.

His ERA since the All-Star break is now a ridiculous 0.86-which would be the lowest in baseball since the All-Star Game began in 1933.

“Historically, you always look at the 20-game winners and what that means”, Maddon said of the once-sexy benchmark that has fallen out of favor in an age of more refined metrics to measure performance.

Tigers starter Daniel Norris tossed five ideal innings and relievers Buck Farmer, Ian Krol and Drew VerHagen threw a hitless inning apiece. Darin Ruf homered and Freddy Galvis had three hits and drove in two runs for the Phillies. Joe Maddon made his comments Monday night after his post-game news conference, but by Tuesday he had backed off a little bit, saying in his pre-game news conference that he wishes he could go to some of the concerts himself.

The win brought the Yankees (83-67) to within 2 1/2 games of the first-place Blue Jays (86-65) in the American League East.

In Kansas City, Hisashi Iwakuma threw seven scoreless innings for Seattle in a blowout victory. Cravy would surrender three hits and strike out three in his four innings, all en route to his eighth loss of the season.

Iwakuma (9-4) checked the Royals on three singles before being pulled after seven innings.

Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Tyler Cravy delivers during the…

The Cardinals improved to 95-56 while the Reds fell to 63-87.

Milwaukee Brewers shortstop Jean Segura, left, collides with center…