PCA, Suzuki provide one-two punch as Cubs' offense wears down Nats

WASHINGTON – While Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong has been making noise and grabbing headlines in the National League MVP debate, Seiya Suzuki has been doing plenty of damage hitting behind the North Siders’ dynamic leadoff man.

In an 8-6 win over the Nationals on Tuesday night, Crow-Armstrong and Suzuki once again helped power the Cubs’ offense. Crow-Armstrong launched a jaw-dropping homer in the third inning, while Suzuki delivered a run-scoring double and also belted a homer as Chicago took the opener of the three-game set at Nationals Park.

“They’re forming a one-two punch that is as good as there is in baseball,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said this past weekend.

Here are three takeaways from Tuesday’s win:

1. Working and chasing Irvin
Heading into Tuesday’s game, no team in baseball had compiled more plate appearances (4,713) or seen as many pitches (18,642) as the Cubs this year. Chicago’s average of 3.96 pitches per plate appearance sat just a fraction below the Brewers (3.97) for the highest rate in the NL.

Nationals starter Jake Irvin got to experience first-hand how the North Siders can wear a pitcher down.

By the third inning, the Cubs had forced Irvin to toil through 75 pitches, including 31 in the second inning alone. Alex Bregman had a pair of 10-pitch plate appearances against the righty. Crow-Armstrong and Suzuki each had a nine-pitch battle. When Irvin exited the game after 3 1/3 innings, he had thrown 88 pitches (56 strikes).

“It was a real example, I think, of a strength of our offense and what our offense can do to a pitcher,” Counsell said.

“I think that’s our offense at its best, really. We didn’t maybe put up the big number, or get the big hit – the home run with men on base or the double with men on base – but man, those first five innings, we made it really hard on them every single inning.”

That helped Chicago get an early jump on the Nationals’ bullpen, which carried a 4.84 ERA (14th in the NL) into Tuesday’s game. Dansby Swanson worked a bases-loaded walk against reliever Max Kranick in the fifth, and Bregman delivered a two-out solo shot off Washington’s Orlando Ribalta in the sixth. Suzuki then went deep off Miles Mikolas in the eighth for his 20th homer of the year.

"Credit to the Cubs’ lineup. They didn’t chase,” Nationals manager Blake Butera said. “Every pitch that was just off the plate, it felt like they took for balls. They didn’t help [Irvin’s] cause by any means, and that wore on Jake, of course. He had to throw a ton of pitches.”

2. PCA finds the third deck
The seventh pitch that Crow-Armstrong saw from Irvin in the third inning was a sweeper that the Cubs star launched deep down the right-field line. It veered foul and crashed into the second deck. Two pitches later, Crow-Armstrong straightened things out.

Irvin fired a 94.6 mph fastball at the top of the zone, and Crow-Armstrong pounced on the full-count offering. The Cubs center fielder ripped the ball at 111.5 mph – tied for the second-hardest-hit homer of his career (114.6 vs. the Cardinals on May 30). The ball caromed off the facing of the third deck, checking in at a Statcast-projected 437 feet. That is tied for the fourth-longest blast of his career.

The home run was the 27th of the season for Crow-Armstrong, who also has 30 stolen bases. There are two other players in the 20-20 club – CJ Abrams of the Nationals (29 homers and 22 steals) and Elly De La Cruz of the Reds (20 homers and 21 steals) – but Crow-Armstrong is closing in on 30-30 for the Cubs.

That power and speed combination is one of the reasons Crow-Armstrong is building a strong case for MVP voters. Entering Tuesday, Chicago’s center fielder led the Majors with 8.0 WAR (FanGraphs) – more than a full win ahead of Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani (6.6).

3. Homers mar Imanaga’s outing
Allowing home runs will always be a part of Shota Imanaga’s game, given his pitch arsenal. The key for the Cubs lefty will always be limiting the baserunners around the homers and avoiding allowing them in bunches.

On Tuesday night, the Nationals tagged Imanaga for three homers, one apiece by Abrams (two-run shot in the first), Jacob Young (solo in the second) and Dylan Crews (solo in the fifth). It marked the first time since June 24 on the road against the Mets that Imanaga allowed three home runs in a game.

Between those three-homer games, Imanaga had a seven-start stretch in which he allowed five home runs total across 164 batters faced. That played a key role in his strong run over his previous 10 turns, during which he spun a 2.06 ERA with 51 strikeouts and 10 walks in 56 2/3 innings. Imanaga struck out five and walked none but allowed four runs (all via homer) in his 4 2/3 frames against Washington.

“I thought Shota was a little off today from the beginning, really,” Counsell said. “You could just tell the command was [off]. The misses were bigger than usual. Just his mannerisms on the mound, you could kind of see it. But some days, that’s what you’ve got, and you’ve got to work with what you’ve got. He battled through it.”