Jake Arrieta's second career no-hitter came with an added bonus. The Cubs right-hander was named National League Player of the Week on Monday for the week ending April 24.
Arrieta struck out six and walked four to toss the Majors' first no-hitter of the season and his second in as many years. He also no-hit the Dodgers last Aug. 30, and became only the third pitcher to throw multiple no-hitters for the Cubs when he held the Reds hitless on Thursday at Great American Ball Park.
"It feels different the second time," Arrieta said after his no-no in Cincinnati. "I was a little more relaxed as the game progressed. Based on the way I threw the ball before the game started, I anticipated having to grind through some at-bats and some innings a little more than I did. I was able to get the ball in on left-handed hitters for some called strikes and then go below the strike zone when I needed to for some big swings and misses.
"You put it all together and have conviction with what you're throwing out there and good things can happen."
This is Arrieta's fourth NL Player of the Week honor since July 12 of last season. He's spun 24 consecutive quality starts, going 20-1 with a 0.86 ERA (17 earned runs over 178 innings) during that span.
"This is why he won the Cy Young last year," Cubs catcher David Ross said. "He's got the capability of doing that every night. I think mentally he expects to do that. He's not shocked when he does stuff like that, and rightfully so."