CHICAGO -- Before Pete Crow-Armstrong settled in to face Reds reliever Graham Ashcraft in the ninth inning on Wednesday night -- with the Wrigley Field crowd buzzing in anticipation of some more late magic -- Cubs manager Craig Counsell turned to bench coach Ryan Flaherty.
“I told Flash,” Counsell said, “‘you just don’t know what’s going to happen when Pete comes up.’ It’s not supposed to happen, but then it happens.”
And boy did it happen. Again.
Crow-Armstrong defied the the win probability charts with a game-tying, two-run homer that ignited another comeback victory to continue the Cubs’ incredible run. Michael Busch’s bases-loaded walk in the 10th clinched the 7-6 win over Cincinnati, giving the Cubs a third consecutive walk-off, an eighth straight win and 14 victories in a row at Wrigley.
The National League Central-leading North Siders have enjoyed a 14-game winning streak at home seven times in the Modern Era (since 1900) -- most recently in 2008. The only longer streak was an 18-game stretch in September of 1935. And the franchise record, per team historian Ed Hartig, is a 21-game run back in 1880 at Lakefront Park.
The latest win for the Cubs -- now 18-3 in their last 21 games and 17-5 at home for the first time since 1985 -- came after the club beat the Reds with walk-offs in back-to-back games on Monday and Tuesday. A third walk-off in a row against the same team? The Cubs had not done that since Sept. 27-28, 1943, against the New York Giants, per Hartig.
The Cubs last had three straight walk-off wins from June 18-20, 2009, against the White Sox and Cleveland.
“Just another night at Wrigley,” joked Cubs left fielder Ian Happ, who had a two-run homer in the first inning to extend his career-best on-base streak to 27 games. “That’s what it feels like. It was a good job of staying in it. It’s easy in that situation to be down. I think that this team has a lot of fight.”
The situation Happ referenced was the Reds’ four-run outburst in the top of the ninth to grab a 6-4 lead. With closer Daniel Palencia unavailable -- Counsell did not want to use him on back-to-back nights so soon after being activated off the injured list -- Cincinnati pounced on relievers Corbin Martin and Hoby Milner.
It looked like Chicago’s streak was nearing its end, but then Carson Kelly sent a pitch from Ashcraft into right field for a single. That set the stage for Crow-Armstrong, who fell into a full count after swinging and missing at a 3-1 slider. Ashcraft returned to that pitch again, bending it below the zone in search of chase.
Crow-Armstrong swung and ripped the pitch the opposite way at 104.5 mph, sending it into the bleacher seats in left-center. The center fielder jumped and pumped a fist around first. He pounded his chest around second. Alex Bregman was on the field in front of the dugout rail, slapping high-fives with multiple teammates.
Counsell was at a loss for words.
“I can’t explain a lot of his at-bats,” an amused Counsell said of Crow-Armstrong.
The slider that Crow-Armstrong attacked was 1.45 feet off the ground, per Statcast. It marked his sixth home run on a pitch no higher than that since the start of the 2024 season. Only Rafael Devers (seven) has more homers against pitches that low.
“I can’t give you a better explanation than he can,” quipped Crow-Armstrong when told of Counsell’s commentary. “I think I’ve always handled the pitch down relatively all right. … Being ready for a heater and running into that is kind of how to explain that one.”
Really, it is just hard to explain what is happening with the Cubs, in general, right now.
Righty Trent Thornton, who had not pitched in a Major League game since July 31 last year due to an Achilles injury, was called up from Triple-A Iowa on Wednesday after starter Matthew Boyd unexpectedly landed on the injured list. Thornton made his Cubs debut by escaping a two-on, no-outs jam in the 10th.
“My mind was spinning,” Thornton said.
Busch, who delivered a walk-off single on Tuesday night, then took a high-and-tight 3-1 pitch from Brock Burke with two outs and the bases full to draw the game-winning free pass. Busch held a clenched fist and yelled as his teammates emptied onto the field for yet another celebration.
“You feel like you’ve seen a lot of baseball games in your life,” Counsell said. “And then you see stuff that you just don’t expect to see. But that’s why we love it, right?”