CHICAGO – Pete Crow-Armstrong and Michael Busch provided a pair of power threats throughout the Cubs’ run to the playoffs last year. Out of the gates this year, Chicago has been waiting for them to really get rolling again in the batter’s box.
In Friday’s 6-5 win over the D-backs at Wrigley Field, Busch delivered a key two-run single and finished with a pair of hits, looking more like the player the Cubs saw catch fire last summer. Crow-Armstrong has also shown signs of offensive life of late, especially coming off a series in San Diego with a homer in back-to-back games.
“It’s a matter of time until those guys break out,” Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said prior to Friday’s game. “And when they do, both those guys have the chance to get hot and carry us for a while with their talent.”
In the first inning, Nico Hoerner led off with a double (before exiting with a neck issue in the next frame) to help the Cubs set up an early bases-loaded opportunity. Busch capitalized, slashing a pitch from Zac Gallen into left field for an opposite-field single that cashed two of the three runs scored in the inning.
Crow-Armstrong played a role in Chicago’s next three-run outburst in the fourth.
After Carson Kelly chipped in a leadoff single, Crow-Armstrong followed with a single up the middle. Kelly went to third on the play, and when center fielder Alek Thomas fired the ball in to shortstop Geraldo Perdomo, Crow-Armstrong was in position to hustle into second base, using a headfirst slide to beat the relay and tag attempt.
Dansby Swanson brought Kelly in with a single to left, and Crow-Armstrong later sprinted home on a wild pitch. Alex Bregman ended Gallen’s afternoon with an RBI double to left that gave the Cubs a 6-1 lead in the fourth, and that five-run cushion proved important.
In his 5 1/3 innings, Cubs righty Colin Rea limited the D-backs to one run, which came courtesy of a run-scoring single by Ildemaro Vargas in the third. Vargas churned out four hits in the game, running his hitting streak to 27 games (dating back to last year) and upping his average to .404 on the season.
Arizona then put up a four-spot against lefty Ryan Rolison in the sixth. The first run scored via a double from Jorge Barrosa, who bunted a pitch up the third-base line. Bregman let the ball go by – thinking it would roll foul – but it struck the base and bounced into left field for the two-base hit. Perdomo then belted a three-run homer to trim Chicago’s lead to 6-5.