After some cold nights in Atlanta, the Phillies bats broke out back at home on Thursday. They also didn’t need too, because Jake Arrieta was simply awesome.
The new Phillie pitched seven brilliant, one-hit frames, striking out 10 and reminding us of Cliff Lee. His pitches moved, from a low-90s cutter that seemed absolutely unhittable to a curveball that was just unfair. He was pulled before reaching 100 pitches, which was fine because his team was already up 7-0. Let’s save Arrieta for September.
The Phils got most of those runs early. In the second Rhys Hoskins kicked off the scoring with a solo jack, his third.