CHICAGO -- When Hall of Famer Greg Maddux -- known for his pinpoint command -- unleashed an errant ceremonial first pitch on Saturday afternoon, it was a sure sign that Cubs fans were about to witness a wild one at Wrigley Field.
Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong enjoyed his first career three-homer game to lead a five-homer attack, helping pad his National League MVP case and powering the North Siders to a 17-5 win over the Reds at the Friendly Confines. The victory came in front of a large contingent of Cubs greats, who were on hand to celebrate the franchise’s 150th anniversary.
Crow-Armstrong homered in each of the first two innings and upped his total to 36 shots in his standout season within a four-hit, six-RBI day. Those blasts -- along with homers from Alex Bregman, Carson Kelly and Seiya Suzuki -- helped the Cubs hold their ground atop the NL Wild Card standings.
Here are three takeaways from Saturday’s win:
1. Bregman keeps raking
The spotlight has been fixed on Crow-Armstrong and rightly so, given his incredible campaign and ongoing pursuit of the NL MVP Award. Meanwhile, Bregman has been playing at an exceptionally-high level for the past month as well.
In Saturday’s win, Bregman launched a two-run homer in the first inning -- giving him an even 20 blasts on the season -- and later added an RBI single in the fourth and a double in the eighth. It was the latest entry into what has been a strong in-season turnaround for the veteran third baseman.
Entering play on Saturday, Bregman was hitting .311/.375/.615 with nine homers, 10 doubles, 26 RBIs and a .990 OPS in 30 games, dating back to a four-hit showing in St. Louis on July 27. Bregman and Crow-Armstrong were tied for first in the Majors atop Fangraphs’ WAR leaderboard with 1.8 apiece in that time period.
2. PCA versus lefties
One of the driving factors behind Crow-Armstrong’s standout season in the batter’s box has been his improved production against left-handed pitching.
Since moving his setup closer to the plate in the box back in May, Crow-Armstrong has been consistently locked in against southpaws. That continued against Reds lefty Andrew Abbott, who gave up both of Crow-Armstrong’s home runs on Saturday and then surrendered a hard-hit single to the center fielder in their third meeting.
Including those plate appearances, Crow-Armstrong is now sporting a .315/.416/.583 slash line to go with 11 homers and 23 walks in 197 PAs against left-handers this year. That comes after the center fielder hit .188/.217/.377 with seven homers in 188 PAs off lefties in 2025. His OPS has jumped to .999 (‘26) from .594 (‘25) against left-handers.
3. Gausman guts through five
Coming off seven scoreless innings in his previous start, Cubs righty Kevin Gausman was not at his sharpest against Cincinnati’s lineup. That said, Gausman gave Chicago five innings, even as his pitch count crossed the century mark, to help ease the load on the relief corps.
Over his five frames, Gausman finished with seven strikeouts and issued two walks, but allowed five runs on six hits in the 102-pitch effort. Eugenio Suárez (second inning) and Sal Stewart (third) each connected for a two-run homer off Gausman, but the run support from the Cubs’ offense helped offer room for error for the righty.