Yes, Pete Crow-Armstrong blasted another pair of homers on Sunday night just 24 hours after he hit a trio of bombs off Cincinnati Reds pitching during Saturday’s 17-5 embarrassment by the Chicago Cubs. Yes, the Chicago Cubs jumped out to an immediate lead in the process, as PCA’s first blast of the night came in the Bottom of the 1st off Reds ace Chase Burns to open the game’s ledger.
From there on, though, the scrappy Cincinnati club took matters into their own hands on the Sunday Night Baseball
national stage, and in doing so head home after a long three-city road trip west with as series victory on which they can most definitely hang their hats.
Hector Rodriguez helped turn the tide with a massive left-on-left three-run homer over the RF wall in Wrigley Field, and both Dane Myers and Tyler Stephenson followed in the Top of the 5th with moonshot blasts into the bleachers beyond the LF wall.
Then, Sal Stewart went to work on the Chicago bullpen in the Top of the 7th with a solo shot out to CF that carried some 418 feet. That blast meant the NL Rookie of the Year frontrunner officially homered in each game of the series.
That gave the Reds a 7-spot, and that was enough for their pitching staff to hold onto in the eventual 7-5 win.
Burns, to his credit, shrugged off the rain delay and early poor umpiring to pour in 5.2 IP of 2 ER ball on exactly 100 pitches before being pulled. He had PCA struck out in their first PA against one another in the Bottom of the 1st in a steady rain, but the home plate ump missed the call (and Stephenson opted against challenging in the game’s first PA for his pitcher), and PCA hit his homer on the very next pitch.
The lone real blemish on an otherwise impressive night by the young core of the Reds was that Elly De La Cruz exited early after hustling down the 1B line out of the box. He was pretty clearly in at least a bit of discomfort, and it was later reported that he’s got some quad tightness. So, stand by with bated breath as we await the official prognosis on one of Cincinnati’s superstars.
Reds 7, Cubs 5, and the vibes sit about as good as they can given everything else that’s fallen by the wayside so far in 2026.
