BRADENTON, Fla. - On the hottest and most humid Florida afternoon of the past week, Jake Arrieta had a frustrating start against the Pirates he wants to quickly move past.
Arrieta allowed an opposite-field leadoff homer to Adam Frazier in the first inning, bobbled a high chopper in front of the plate in the second and allowed hard contact in the third and fourth innings before being pulled at 64 pitches. His command just wasn't there - 31 balls, 33 strikes.
Arrieta isn't the type, especially in spring training, to dwell on a bad outing. It's the time of spring where some mental fatigue is creeping in for players. They've been down here for a month or more, and the adrenaline of the regular season is still two weeks away.
Arrieta admitted he "sucked" on this day.
"Not gonna cry about it. I'm not gonna watch video of it at all," he said. "Didn't feel great. Got to 65 pitches, that was the goal. I would have liked better results. It didn't happen that way. Move on, that's it."
Arrieta felt like he was short-arming his fastball, not getting extended enough, and his command suffered.
"Just one of those spring training days where it didn't sync up quite the way I wanted," he said.
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With 11 days left of spring training games, Arrieta will make two more starts before the regular season begins. He projects to start for the Phillies Saturday, March 30 at 4:05 p.m. against the Braves.
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