CHICAGO -- Astros pitcher Spencer Arrighetti’s penchant for losing control of the strike zone put him in a couple of harrowing jams Friday afternoon at Wrigley Field. It also led to some of his biggest outs of the day.
Arrighetti escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the third inning and survived a pair of one-out walks in the fifth to complete five scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out five batters, to lead the Astros to a 4-2 win over the Cubs -- Houston’s first win at Wrigley Field since June 22, 2013.
Christian Vázquez hit a solo homer in the third, and the Astros got an RBI from Zach Cole and Vázquez in the fourth and Brice Matthews in the fifth to build a 4-0 lead.
Arrighetti improved to 6-1 in seven starts and lowered his ERA to 1.32 in 41 innings, leaving him 11 innings shy of qualifying among the league leaders. Pitchers must have one inning for every team game played to qualify for the ERA leaders. The Astros are 21-31.
Arrighetti entered Friday with a 5.25 walks per nine innings ratio, and his four walks issued against the Cubs marked the fifth time in seven starts he’s walked at least four batters in a game. He also hit consecutive batters in the third -- an inning in which he threw 22 pitches. Arrighetti had three innings of at least 20 pitches and was pulled after 89 pitches.
When Arrighetti was in the zone, the Cubs had trouble squaring him up. Chicago didn’t put a ball in play against Arrighetti that was harder than 95.7 mph, and he had an average exit velocity against him of only 79.4 mph. Lefty Steven Okert replaced Arrighetti in the sixth and allowed a towering two-run homer to Pete Crow-Armstrong that cut the lead to 4-2.