Did Arrieta have pine tar on his hat?
The Baltimore Orioles were shut down by former Orioles and current Chicago Cub Jake Arrieta but it may have been tainted. The Orioles were held down by Arrieta for seven innings allowing only one run on four hits and issuing one walk. This may have been tainted as Oriolesmemes pointed out on their Facebook page it looks like Arrieta may have had something on his hat, most likely pine tar.
Now, Arrieta did keep touching the top of his hat during the game and if it was pine tar, Arrieta should have been ejected in the first inning and the game should have been up to the Cubs bullpen. The pine tar would explain a lot. When Arrieta was with the Orioles he struggled with his command from inning to inning but has been great with his command this season. The pine tar helps pitchers grip the baseball and is illegal in Major League baseball.
New York Yankees pitcher Michael Pineda was suspended for ten games for pine tar use earlier this season. Arrieta is lucky that his hat was not checked and that may simply have been because Buck Showalter has said that he does not mind pine tar use.
