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It comes as no surprise that Jake Arrieta gets some plaudits this week, and today Arrieta was named National League Player of the Week after throwing the first ever no-hitter on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball.
From the press release:
Jake Arrieta of the Chicago Cubs, who threw his first career no-hitter on Sunday, has been named National League Player of the Week for August 24th-30th. The announcement was made earlier today on MLB Network.
Arrieta posted a perfect 2-0 record and led the Majors with 20 strikeouts across his two outings last week. His 0.00 ERA was tied for lowest among qualifying pitchers and his 15.0 innings were tied for the most among Major League hurlers. On Sunday night, Arrieta held the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers hitless over 9.0 shutout innings en route to a 2-0 win, fanning 12 Dodger batters while issuing just one walk. He tossed 116 pitches (80 strikes) in the performance, in which he earned his 17th victory of the season and sixth in as many starts. The 29-year- old capped his no-hit gem by striking out the side in the ninth inning, becoming the first pitcher to finish a no-hitter in such a fashion since Sandy Koufax fanned the last six Cubs he faced in his perfect game in 1965 (Elias Sports Bureau). According to Elias, Arrieta also became the seventh pitcher in Major League history to toss a no-hitter after being on the losing end of a no-no earlier in the same season (he took the loss in Cole Hamels’ no-hitter for the Philadelphia Phillies on July 25th). Arrieta’s no-hitter, coupled with his win at San Francisco on Tuesday, August 25th, give him 14 straight quality starts, marking the longest such streak by a Cubs pitcher since Hall of Famer Greg Maddux posted 14 consecutive quality starts in 1992. This is his second career Player of the Week honor, having also been named NL Player of the Week for the week of July 6th-12th of this year.
Let's hope this is just one of many accolades that Arrieta will receive the rest of this season and throughout his career.