CHICAGO -- Pete Crow-Armstrong stepped into the batter’s box with the Cubs down to their final out, and 39,248 fans already standing.
Wrigley Field felt tense. Restless. Ready to exhale.
Then Crow-Armstrong unleashed a swing that changed everything.
The first pitch he saw from Giants closer Keaton Winn -- a splitter left over the heart of the plate -- rocketed off his bat and disappeared into the right-field bleachers. As Crow-Armstrong rounded first base, Wrigley erupted. By the time he returned to the dugout after his second home run of the afternoon, chants of “PCA! PCA!” rolled through the ballpark.
The blast forced extra innings and set the stage for Michael Busch’s single to right field -- aided by a misplay by Victor Bericoto -- that lifted the Cubs to a dramatic 3-2 walk-off victory over the Giants on Saturday afternoon. The win was Chicago’s Major League-leading eighth walk-off victory of the season and its second in three days.
“It’s super rewarding,” Crow-Armstrong said. “Such a weird day yesterday, to be able to turn the page in that way and be here today.”
If Friday’s 18-3 loss felt like the latest punch in a frustrating stretch, Saturday felt like a reminder of why the Cubs continue to believe they can climb out of it.
The turnaround was not just about the final score. It was about the response.
One day after watching nearly everything go wrong, the Cubs found themselves in another game that seemed to be slipping away. This time, they refused to let it happen. Crow-Armstrong’s heroics gave the clubhouse a jolt, and the comeback offered the type of win that can resonate beyond a single afternoon in June.
And nobody embodied that belief more than Crow-Armstrong.
The center fielder finished 4-for-5 with two home runs, two RBIs and two runs scored, accounting for half of Chicago’s eight hits in the ballgame. He extended his hitting streak to a career-high 11 games and delivered his seventh career multi-homer game, but it was the timing of the swings that made them unforgettable.
His first homer came in the sixth inning, moments after Rafael Devers broke a scoreless tie with a solo shot off Caleb Thielbar. The Giants had finally cracked through. Crow-Armstrong immediately erased the damage.
Facing an 0-2 count, he got a 92.5 mph sinker left hanging over the middle of the plate and launched it 386 feet into the right-field seats to tie the game at 1.
The second swing was even bigger.
After San Francisco reclaimed a 2-1 lead in the ninth on Matt Chapman’s sacrifice fly, the Cubs were one out away from wasting another brilliant pitching performance and another afternoon filled with missed opportunities. Crow-Armstrong made sure that didn’t happen.
“It’s like, 'Don’t miss a pitch,' really,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “He’s offensively won two of our last three wins. It’s incredible.”
The game could have been over long before the ninth.
The Cubs loaded the bases in both the sixth and seventh innings and came away with nothing. Nico Hoerner stranded three runners with a flyout in the sixth. Alex Bregman struck out with the bases loaded in the seventh. Through seven innings, Chicago had left nine runners on base and repeatedly failed to capitalize on scoring opportunities.
Yet the Cubs never completely lost control of the game, because Ben Brown refused to let them.
The right-hander continued his emergence as one of the most important pieces in Chicago’s injury-depleted rotation, firing 5 1/3 scoreless innings while allowing only one hit and one walk. Brown struck out five, leaned heavily on his knuckle curve and lowered his ERA to 1.74.
Counsell called the curveball Brown’s best pitch of the day.
“I thought his curveball today was really good,” Counsell said. “He threw it a whole bunch in 3-2 counts when he needed it.”
Brown’s outing kept the game within reach long enough for Crow-Armstrong to take over. Then came the 10th.
After Ryan Rolison navigated a scoreless top half of the inning, the Cubs placed automatic runner Dansby Swanson at second base. Busch stepped in against Sam Hentges and lined a single into right field. Bericoto charged in but couldn’t field the ball cleanly, allowing Swanson to race home with the winning run.
As Busch was mobbed near first base, Crow-Armstrong watched another comeback celebration unfold.
The final hit belonged to Busch. The final run belonged to Swanson. But the day belonged to Crow-Armstrong.
“He gets all the love for being one of the best defenders in the league,” Busch said. “But he hit 31 home runs and was a big part of our success last year. What an amazing game. That’s hard to do, to put together five, six quality at-bats and two home runs. That was an incredible game by him for sure.”
For one afternoon, the Cubs needed a star. Crow-Armstrong again proved to be one.