Just when you think Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong has gone into a slump — and he was 0-for-8 with three strikeouts Saturday and Sunday — he breaks out of it in a big way.
PCA was 4-for-5 Monday against the Braves at Wrigley Field, including his 37th stolen base and 42nd home run of the season. That home run tied him with Hall of Famer Billy Williams for the most by any left-handed hitter in Cubs franchise history.
So congrats to Pete for that, good company to be in, and that offensive display
helped lead the Cubs to a 7-3 win over the Braves in the series opener.
David Peterson struggled a bit in the first inning, but got out of it scoreless. There was more traffic on the bases for Atlanta in the second, but Peterson induced this double play to end the inning [VIDEO].
Then the Cubs brought out the bats in the bottom of the second. Ian Happ led off with a double and went to third on a single by Nico Hoerner. After Michael Conforto struck out, Pedro Ramirez walked to load the bases.
Carson Kelly hit into this run-scoring fielder’s choice [VIDEO].
Runners are now on first and third with two out, and PCA doubled them both in [VIDEO].
You see the smile on Kelly’s face as he scores, and BCB’s Sara Sanchez summed that up (Bluesky link):
The Cubs reached a couple of milestones in that inning. Details from BCB’s JohnW53:
The run scored by Ian Happ on Carson Kelly’s second-inning forceout was the Cubs’ 800th of the season, making 2026 just the 13th season since 1901 in which they have reached 800.
Pete Crow-Armstrong’s next-batter two-run double raised his RBI total to 100, making him only the second Cub to drive home triple-digit runs in the past eight seasons.
Seiya Suzuki knocked in 103 runners last year, the most since 2018, when Javier Baez led the National League with 111. Anthony Rizzo had 101 that year, his fourth consecutive seasons with at least 100. Kris Bryant had 102 in 2016.
Others in the past 20 years: Aramis Ramirez, 2007-08; Derrek Lee, 2009; and Alfonso Soriano, 2012.
With that, the Cubs led 3-0 going to the third, and that’s when Peterson settled down and retired six of the seven batters he faced in the third and fourth.
Meanwhile, the Cubs extended their lead in the bottom of the third. Michael Busch led off with a walk and … stole second? [VIDEO]
That was certainly unexpected. Busch now has 10 career steals in 12 attempts. He took third on a ground out by Happ and scored on this single by Hoerner [VIDEO].
That made it 4-0, and this double by Michael Conforto gave the Cubs a five-run lead [VIDEO].
In the fourth, the Braves lifted Reynaldo Lopez in favor of AJ Smith-Shawver, which resulted in this very long letter scorebug combination:
PCA wins that “competition” 13 letters to 12, and no, don’t use the other guy’s initials.
Anyway, PCA wound up with a single in that at-bat and then stole second:
That put PCA in scoring position, but he was stranded.
Peterson had more traffic on the bases in the fifth and sixth but got out of both innings scoreless and then the Cubs further extended their lead in the bottom of the sixth after their first two hitters were routine outs. Kelly singled and PCA launched home run No. 42 [VIDEO].
As noted above, that homer matched Billy Williams’ total in 1970, the Hall of Famer’s career high and up to this year, the only 40-homer season by a Cubs left-handed hitter.
That made it 7-0 and Peterson cruised into the seventh inning having struck out seven [VIDEO].
Here’s more on Peterson’s evening [VIDEO].
More on Peterson’s evening from John:
This was David Peterson’s fourth quality start in his 13 since joining the Cubs. He is tied with Edward Cabrera and Jameson Taillon for fourth most on the team, behind Shota Imanaga, 12; Matthew Boyd, eight; and Colin Rea, six. Six others have between one and three, for a team total of 51. They began Monday tied with the Angels, Cardinals and Rangers for 15th most. The Dodgers had 78; the Phillies, 69; and the Mariners and Red Sox, 68.
It was clear that Craig Counsell was going to allow Peterson to face the lefty-hitting Michael Harris II leading off the seventh, then remove him. Harris singled, and Peterson departed to warm applause, with Javier Assad coming into the game. It was not a great outing for Assad, who allowed an infield hit on which Alex Bregman made a throwing error, putting runners on first and third. A force play scored the first Atlanta run, charged to Peterson, and then Mike Yastrzemski homered to make it 7-3.
Fortunately, that was it for Braves scoring in this game, though there was a bit of nervous time in the eighth and ninth. Ryan Rolison put the first two Atlanta hitters on base in the eighth via hit and walk, then induced a double play and fly to center.
Ryan Zeferjahn was entrusted with the four-run lead in the ninth and, well, he did end the game but not until he loaded the bases on two hits and a walk with one out. After the walk, pitching coach Tommy Hottovy went to the mound.
Whatever he said must have worked, because on Zeferjahn’s very next pitch he got Ronald Acuña Jr. to hit into a game-ending double play [VIDEO].
This was a good win for a number of reasons. First, the Braves are a very good team, in first place in the NL East by 4.5 games over the Phillies, and the Cubs handled them quite well. Also, this put the Cubs half a game ahead of the Phillies for the top wild-card spot, as the Phillies were idle on Monday. Philadelphia opens a series against the Nationals at Washington Tuesday evening. The win also reduced the Cubs’ magic number to clinch a postseason spot to seven.
Here’s PCA on his historic achievement and the Cubs’ big win [VIDEO].
And here are postgame comments from Counsell [VIDEO].
The Cubs will look for the series win over the Braves Tuesday evening at Wrigley Field (weather permitting!). Kevin Gausman will start for the Cubs and Martin Perez goes for Atlanta. Game time is again 6:40 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.
