Boston,  MA (SportsNetwork.com)  - Jake Arrieta flirted with a perfect game in 
his  last outing and  followed that up by coming four outs away from his first 
career no-hitter on Monday. 

Arrieta  (5-1) threw a  career-high 120 pitches and allowed just one hit and a 
walk  with 10 strikeouts  over 7 2/3 innings to lead the Chicago Cubs to a 2-0 
win over the Boston Red Sox in the opener of a three-game set. 

"It's  special to do it in this ballpark," Arrieta said. "We won so that's the 
biggest thing for tonight." 

Arrieta  set  down the first  13 batters he faced  before Mike Napoli worked a 
walk  in the fifth.  Xander Bogaerts proceeded to line out to left and Stephen 
Drew  struck out swinging to end the inning. Arrieta kept the no-hitter alive, 
however, as the right-hander tossed 80 pitches through five innings. 

"The  tension  builds there as the  fifth and sixth innings approach," Arrieta 
noted. 

He  then threw  an efficient 10 pitches in  the sixth and 13 in the seventh to 
keep the Red Sox hitless, but Boston would break through in the eighth. 

Napoli was called out on strikes to begin the inning and Bogaerts flied out to 
center before Drew yanked a single into right for Boston's first hit. 

Arrieta  was  immediately taken out and  Pedro Strop induced a harmless pop-up 
from Mookie Betts to end the inning. 

Pinch-hitter  A.J.  Pierzynski led  off the  ninth with a  single to right off 
closer Hector Rondon, but Brock Holt grounded into a 3-6-3 double play. Daniel 
Nava then ground out softly to second base to end the game as Rondon picked up 
his 10th save of the season. 

"We  just ran into  a guy that was on his game," Red Sox second baseman Dustin 
Pedroia said of Arrieta. "He looked really good." 

Arrieta  was vying  to become the 11th Cubs pitcher to throw a no-hitter, the 
first  since  Carlos Zambrano achieved the  feat against the Houston Astros on 
Sept. 14, 2008 in a game played at Miller Park in Milwaukee. 

Boston, which was one out away from being no-hit by Texas' Yu Darvish on May 9 
before  David Ortiz  broke  it up  with  a single,  hasn't  been no-hit  since 
Seattle's  Chris Bosio, the current Cubs pitching coach, twirled a gem back on 
April 22, 1993. 

One  would  have to delve  deep into  the history books  to find the last time 
Boston  was  no-hit at  Fenway Park.  Detroit's Jim  Bunning pitched his first 
career no-no in a 3-0 win over the host Red Sox on July 20, 1958. 

"(Arrieta) stayed out of the middle of the plate," Boston manager John Farrell 
said.  "He was  outstanding. Obviously giving the  fact that we broke up a no- 
hitter  in  the eighth inning,  you give  credit to a  talented guy who was on 
tonight." 

Red  Sox starter Jake Peavy (1-7) took the tough-luck loss after giving up two 
runs on five hits with seven strikeouts in six innings. 

The  game  was scoreless until  the fourth  when Nate Schierholtz provided the 
only offense that was needed with his fourth homer of the season. 

"First  pitch  to Schierholtz,  (he) pulled  it and that  was the game," Peavy 
said. "It's frustrating losing." 

Peavy  struck  out Starlin  Castro and Luis  Valbuena before walking Welington 
Castillo  in front  of Schierholtz,  who  turned on  the first  pitch he  saw, 
depositing it into the bullpen in right. 

                                   Game Notes 

Arrieta is 4-0 with a 0.94 ERA in 28 2/3 innings over his last four starts ... 
There  have been  three no-hitters thrown on  June 30 (Cy Young, Bob Lemon and 
Sandy  Koufax)  ... Peavy's  only win of  the season came  on April 25 against 
Toronto ... Red Sox hitting coach Greg Colbrunn was back with the team Monday, 
less than four weeks after being hospitalized for a brain hemorrhage ... Betts 
made his first appearance at Fenway Park on Monday, a day after making his MLB 
debut.  He  went 0-for-3  ... Chicago  snapped its  two-game losing streak and 
halted  Boston's  six-game winning streak  in interleague play ... Pedroia had 
his interleague hitting streak end at nine games after an 0-for-3 night.