Cubs outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong started in center field for each of the Cubs’ first 24 games this season. For game No. 25, he’ll get a breather.
PCA was not in Chicago’s starting lineup for Thursday’s game against the Phillies, who are sending left-handed ace Christopher Sánchez to the mound. Crow-Armstrong’s absence appears to be nothing more than a day off, and perhaps it will help him get on track at the plate. Through 93 at-bats this season, Crow-Armstrong is batting .247 with a .633 OPS and just one home run.
Crow-Armstrong didn't get the whole day off, however, entering the game as a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the seventh inning after the Phillies had cut the Cubs' lead to one with a three-run top of the frame. PCA struck out against right-hander Orion Kerkering, and then struck out again when facing left-hander José Alvarado with the game tied in the ninth, before Dansby Swanson came through with a bases-loaded, walk-off single in the 10th to give the Cubs their ninth straight victory.
Thursday made sense to give Crow-Armstrong a break from the starting lineup. It was a day game after a night game in a stretch of 13 straight without an off-day. Sánchez has also been nasty against left-handed hitters, allowing just a .167 batting average and a .385 OPS.
Matt Shaw, who has played the majority of his games this season in right field, shifts over to center field to replace Crow-Armstrong. It will be Shaw’s first game in center as a pro. The last time he played that position was during summer ball in 2021, two years before the Cubs drafted him out of the University of Maryland with the No. 13 overall pick in the MLB Draft.
Shaw took early fly balls at Wrigley Field on Thursday morning.
“He’s out here right now [pregame] trying to figure it out,” Cubs bench coach Ryan Flaherty said. “That’s the life of a utility guy and the versatility you add, it helps the team so much.”