CINCINNATI -- Maybe a return to the scene of the crime will do the Chicago Cubs and Jake Arrieta some good. Last time Arrieta took the mound at Great American Ball Park, in late April, he no-hit the Cincinnati Reds as part of his team's historic start to the season.

Since then, the pace has slowed down -- for Arrieta and the Cubs.

Coming off his second loss in four starts, maybe an ornery Arrieta is what the Cubs need. His beloved TCU Horned Frogs lost back-to-back games over the weekend as they were eliminated from the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska. Arrieta never pitched in that World Series, though he's aiming to pitch in a different one.

"It's rewarding to see where the program is now," Arrieta said of TCU baseball. "I like being actively part of the program still, even though we've been gone for a while. It's part of the responsibility."

Like any person a few years removed from college, Arrieta says he has changed since his time at TCU in 2006 and 2007.

"I'm more mellow now," Arrieta said. "I have kids. I actually know how to pitch a little bit more, too."

That last evaluation was evident the last time he was on the mound in Cincinnati. He didn't nearly have the same stuff he did in his first no-hitter, pitched last August in Los Angeles, but he persevered through command issues to end up in the record books again. Command of his pitches has come and gone for Arrieta this season; he has intimated he had to fight his off-speed stuff, while manager Joe Maddon says it has been Arrieta's fastball.

"I have a lot of faith he'll figure out the command of his fastball and move it along from there," Maddon said Sunday in Miami. "I'm not worried about it."

It's hard to be worried when his ERA is still 1.74. Arrieta was more concerned with his Horned Frogs, anyway. He said "99 percent" of his former teammates were "lucky" to be going to Omaha to watch them play but he and good friend Matt Carpenter and a few others have "day jobs."

"We had a group text going," Arrieta said regarding his former TCU teammates. "Being in college and winning bonds you with your teammates. It's the same for the Horned Frogs. It's like [David] Ross and I."

Ross and Arrieta have a no-hitter bond from April, just as Arrieta and Miguel Montero do from last August. With the Cubs reeling from injuries and poor play, they could use either of their Cy Young winner's historic outings come Monday night. His manager still believes the more dominant August performance is coming.

"In my mind's eye, it was right about this time last year that he really took off," Maddon said. "A lot of times history repeats itself with these guys."