CINCINNATI – Entering Sunday’s finale against the Reds, Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong had a frustrating weekend, going 0-for-10 with four strikeouts over the first two games of the series. But he made up for those difficult days by coming a triple shy of the cycle and helping Chicago pound the Reds, 9-1, at Great American Ball Park.
The victory helped bring the Cubs an inch closer to the postseason, but they were unable to officially clinch a playoff berth after the D-backs topped the Yankees Sunday afternoon. Chicago owns the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Padres (5-1) and the Phillies (6-1), the two teams below them in the NL Wild Card race, giving them the upper hand to earn home-field advantage for the Wild Card Series starting Sept. 29.
Crow-Armstrong went 3-for-5 with a homer and two RBIs. It all started in the first inning against Reds right-hander Rhett Lowder. Crow-Armstrong singled to right field and then stole second base, putting him two steals shy of the first 40-40 season in Cubs franchise history. He eventually scored on a single by Alex Bregman, who left the game in the fourth after getting hit in the face by a foul ball from teammate Michael Busch.
“At the end of the day, you hope your friend is OK,” Crow-Armstrong said about Bregman. “That’s the news that I’m hoping for.”
Chicago scored four runs off Lowder in the third frame, and it was Crow-Armstrong who led the charge. He led off with a double and scored the second run of the game on a single by Ian Happ. It was his 30th double of the season, making him the 10th player in MLB history to notch 40-plus homers, 30-plus doubles and 30-plus stolen bases in a season at least once, joining Ronald Acuña Jr., Jeff Bagwell (twice), Ryan Braun, Ellis Burks, Jose Canseco, Shohei Ohtani, Alex Rodriguez, Alfonso Soriano and Larry Walker.
Crow-Armstrong later homered in the fifth for his 45th blast of the season, tying him with Kyle Schwarber for the MLB lead.
“It’s a testament of how good he has been,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “When two games don’t go well, it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, he hasn’t hit a home run or gotten a hit.’ That speaks to what he has accomplished this year and how well he has performed.
“It’s coming. That’s how it’s going to be this year. You may get him for a day or two, but it’s coming.”
Crow-Armstrong said he needed to get out of his mini-slump.
“You commit to something and it works. You wonder why you can’t do it every at-bat, but it’s the nature of the game. It’s what's hard about baseball,” he said. “Today, I was really committed to something. … I went out there and reaped the benefits. I had poor at-bats the last couple of days. I just came in today looking to turn that around.”
The Cubs star got one last chance to tally the triple that would complete his cycle in the eighth against Carson Spiers, but he popped up to shortstop Elly De La Cruz for the first out of the inning.
Crow-Armstrong is having a dream season, leading the Majors with 10.5 wins above replacement (per FanGraphs) and 118 runs scored. Crow-Armstrong's 154 OPS+ entering the day trailed only Yordan Alvarez (189). Let’s not forget that he could become the seventh player in MLB history to reach the 40-40 plateau.
Asked why Crow-Armstrong should be named the National League's Most Valuable Player, Counsell said, “He has been the best player in baseball this year. It’s not close. He performs every facet of the game at the highest level. It’s an overall season when you include the defense and baserunning.”
While he had a great game, Crow-Armstrong mentioned the performance of left-hander David Peterson, who pitched one of his best starts of the season Sunday, allowing one run in six innings.
“He is nails,” Crow-Armstrong said about Peterson. “He has had a good last couple of weeks. The heater was clearly working today. That’s what we needed today -- just go and do exactly what he did.
“It’s a hot, sticky one. Everybody is tired and ready to get out of here. So for him to do what he did, that is as good as any run-based cushion the offense could give him. We really needed that today from him. It was big and very impressive to watch.”