The Cubs were trailing 3-1 heading into the fourth inning in their series-opening game against the Nationals Tuesday night, when Pete Crow-Armstrong did what he does best: create chaos on the bases. The left-handed hitter lined a ball to right field that would normally be a single for most players. PCA is not most players, but his speed that allowed him to slide safely into second base was only the start of him wreaking havoc.
PCA then stole third base, picking up the 90 feet without a throw from Nationals’ catcher Keibert Ruiz. Then, the Cubs center fielder broke the brain of third baseman Jose Tena, who froze after fielding a ground ball hit by Carson Kelly.
Crow-Armstrong was dancing off third base, hesitated once he saw Tena field the ball, but in doing so PCA was able to scamper back to the bag and allowed Kelly to reach safely at first.
Kelly, who would have been easily thrown out even if Tena had thrown to first after his initial stare down of PCA, later scored in the fourth inning on a sac-fly by Dansby Swanson that tied the game at three. That was the beginning of seven unanswered runs scored by the Cubs, who won 8-3.
It’s plays like those that make PCA so much more special. From April 13 through May 23, he hit 14 home runs, which led the majors. It was an incredibly hot stretch for Crow-Armstrong, but he’s definitely cooled off during the past 10 games or so. Yet, because of his base-running ability and the speed that makes the defense short circuit at times, PCA finds way to help the Cubs win games.
In his last nine games Crow-Armstrong only has one home run, but it was the difference-maker in a 2-1 win over the Rockies. We saw him steal third base in extra innings the next game, which led to PCA scoring the tying run before Matt Shaw walked it off for the Cubs. After not having a single multi-walk game in his career, PCA has two of them in the past three games.
PCA is only hitting .242 since May 24, but during that stretch he’s stolen seven bases and hasn’t been caught once. He’s scored eight runs, driven in six and as we saw Tuesday night, PCA is breaking brains on the field.
