On one hand, Pete Crow-Armstrong was about a foot or so away from having one of the best individual performances ever in Chicago Cubs history, literally willing the team to win, to almost hitting for the cycle and the only run being scored coming from the home run. Luckily, the Cubs were playing the Colorado Rockies and they did what you’re supposed to do, beat a very bad team.
It was the ninth walk-off victory for the Cubs at Wrigley Field in 2026, as Pedro Ramirez delivered a game-tying RBI-single in the bottom of the ninth inning, followed by Matt Shaw’s walk with the bases loaded. The 5-4 win enabled Cubs fans to fully celebrate Crow-Armstrong’s cycle, the first of the year in MLB.
Here’s what made Pete Crow-Armstrong’s first career cycle even crazier than you think.
First Cub in history to hit a reverse cycle: HR, 3B, 2B, 1B
First Cub to record a cycle in 1st four PAs of a game since Andre Dawson in 1987
First Cub to hit for the cycle with a leadoff HR since Ivan DeJesus in 1980
Youngest Cub to hit for the cycle since Randy Hundley in 1966 (24 years, 82 days old)
Fifth player ever since expansion era to hit a reverse cycle
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There is also this insane coincidence made possible after Crow-Armstrong had a sac-fly in the eighth inning. There have only been two players in MLB with the exact same stat lines in a single game since 1954: Pete Crow-Armstrong and Carlos Gonzalez.
1 Single 1 Double 1 Triple 1 HR 1 Sac fly 2 RBI 5 PA 10 TB
Both of those games ended in walk-off wins for the player’s respective team.
Again, it was maybe more relieving than anything else that the Cubs came back in the ninth inning against the Rockies because we were in line for yet another annoying loss.
Crow-Armstrong hit a leadoff home run, and then the Cubs couldn’t score again off Michael Lorenzen, the worst starting pitcher in MLB. The Cubs were 0-for-9 hitting with runners in scoring position until Ramirez worked a great at-bat with the bases loaded in the ninth. The 5-4 win came despite the Cubs leaving 15 runners stranded.
But hey, a win is a win, and it came with a historic performance from a budding star in Pete Crow-Armstrong. You can only hope the Cubs can get back to winning series after going more than a month without one.
