Chicago,  IL (SportsNetwork.com) - Jake Arrieta continued his recent dominance 
Tuesday night by taking a perfect game into the seventh inning, as the Chicago 
Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-3, in the second test of a three-game series. 

Arrieta retired the first 18 batters he faced before Billy Hamilton singled up 
the  middle to start the seventh. The right-hander went on to give up two runs 
in the inning before exiting. 

Arrieta  (4-1), who had  nine strikeouts, is 3-0 over his last five starts and 
has tossed seven frames in each of his previous three outings. 

"I  knew that's  kind of what was going  on from the get-go, most guys do when 
you're in a situation like that," Arrieta said of the perfect-game bid. "But I 
just wanted to continue to execute pitches and try and pitch deep in the game. 

"That was the only couple of thoughts going through my head." 

A Cubs pitcher has never thrown a perfect game. The last Cubs pitcher to throw 
a no-hitter was Carlos Zambrano on Sept. 14, 2008. 

Anthony Rizzo went 3-for-4 with a solo homer and two runs scored for the Cubs, 
who snapped a three-game skid. Welington Castillo knocked in two runs. 

Devin  Mesoraco  homered in his  fifth straight game  for the Reds, matching a 
franchise record. He finished with two RBI and two runs scored. 

Cincinnati starter Homer Bailey (7-4) failed to continue his domination of the 
Cubs, giving up four runs on four hits with six strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings. 
The  Reds  had won his  previous 10 starts  against Chicago, during which time 
Bailey went 7-0. 

Both  Arrieta and Bailey  were in command early on, and neither team had a hit 
until Rizzo homered to right-center-field with two outs in the fourth. 

Castillo hit an RBI double in the fifth to make it 2-0. 

The Cubs tacked on two more runs in the sixth. Arrieta and Junior Lake walked 
and Rizzo singled to load the bases with one out. Bailey hit Starlin Castro on 
the  right hand with a pitch to force in Arrieta. J.J. Hoover took over on the 
mound and Nate Schierholtz greeted him with a sacrifice fly. 

After  Hamilton  singled to  start the  seventh, Arrieta  retired the next two 
batters.  Mesoraco's RBI single and Jay Bruce's run-scoring double cut the gap 
to 4-2. Ryan Ludwick struck out swinging to end the inning. 

The Cubs used four relievers to get through the eighth. 

The  home team  followed with three insurance  runs off Sam LeCure in the home 
half.  With  the bases loaded  and one out,  Schierholtz reached first on Joey 
Votto's  fielding error that scored Lake and Rizzo. Castillo added a sacrifice 
fly. 

Mesoraco hit a solo homer off Neil Ramirez in the ninth. 

"It  doesn't  mean as much because  we lost," Mesoraco said. "The other homers 
seemed  to help  us  win. It  was  late in  the game  and  really didn't  mean 
anything. It's nice to be in that company." 

                                   Game Notes 

The  start of  the game was delayed 53  minutes by rain ... Bailey fell to 8-3 
lifetime against the Cubs.