Jake Arrieta throws no-hitter as Chicago Cubs blank Cincinnati Reds

Jake Arrieta threw the second no-hitter of his career as the Chicago Cubs routed the Cincinnati Reds 16-0 at the Great American Ball Park.

Arrieta, who won the National League's Cy Young Award last year, allowed only five balls to be hit out of the infield in a display of sheer dominance.

The 30-year-old has now thrown 24 successive quality starts, dating back to last season, with one of those coming in his first career no-hitter against the Los Angeles Dodgers in August 2015.

He struck out six along the way, and walked four in what he described as a "sloppy" performance, but none of the Cincinnati batters who connected on one of his pitches was able to reach base.

Although the game was played in Cincinnati, a good number of Cubs fans were in attendance, and most of those were on their feet as Arrieta came back out to pitch the ninth inning.

Pinch hitter Tucker Barnhart popped out to centre field for the first out, but there was a moment of doubt for Arrieta when Zack Cozart hit a hard liner past the infield, but Dexter Fowler was able to make the out.

And Arrieta was able to celebrate soon after when Eugenio Suarez flew out to right fielder Jason Heyward to complete the game.

"It feels different the second time," Arrieta said. "I was a little more relaxed this time. I came out with some shaky command. But you have to have conviction in what you're doing."

"Regardless of how long it took or what I had to do to get there... I had visions of throwing no-hitters. It's starting to happen for me and I don't take any of it for granted."

Arrieta did not really need the run support, but the Cubs produced it anyway starting with a deep two-run homer from Kris Bryant in the first inning.

Bryant would go on to hit a second home run, a seventh inning Grand Slam, contributing four hits and six RBI, while there were also home runs from David Ross, Ben Zobrist and Anthony Rizzo.