Pete

Crow-Armstrong

Crow-Armstrong kept the Cubs alive, with his second homer tying things up with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. After a scoreless top of the 10th, the Cubs won the game right away on a Michael Busch single and an error in the bottom of the inning. Automatic runner Dansby Swanson was going to be held at third on the shot to right, but Victor Bericoto booted the ball to allow Swanson to score. PCA now has four homers in his last four games and an 11-game hitting streak. He’s up to .259/.343/.449 for the season.

The Cubs’ season seemed to be at another low point after Crow-Armstrong lost a fly to center in the sky in the top of the sixth, giving Shea Langeliers an inside-the-park two-run homer. PCA did come right back with a solo shot in the bottom of the inning, but the game seemed out of reach until the ninth, when the Cubs amassed seven hits and four runs to walk it off. The homer off J.T. Ginn was Crow-Armstrong’s ninth of the season and 50th as a major leaguer. He also collected his 13th stolen base tonight.

That’s it, Crow-Armstrong is officially hot. That home run was his second in his last four games and he’s currently riding an eight game hitting streak. He also struck out with a runner on third while down by one in the 10th, but let’s focus on the big picture. Zooming out a bit, Crow-Armstrong’s quality May with a .762 OPS, four home runs, and six stolen bases flew a bit under the radar due to how poor of an April he had plus some extra-curricular antics. Now, it looks like he’s carried that hot hitting into June and is even taking more walks than we’ve ever seen from him during his short big league career. There’s a massive up arrow on Crow-Armstrong right now.

Hoerner draws his second consecutive start as Chicago’s table-setter, this time against Athletics top prospect Gage Jump, after moving back up for Sunday’s series finale against the Cardinals. The 29-year-old speedster has been stuck in a rut at the dish recently, hitting .208 (25-for-120) with zero homers and four steals over his last 30 games, Pete Crow-Armstrong is hitting second once again after mostly batting leadoff since late May.

The Busch Stadium crowd was chanting “overrated” when Crow-Armstrong silenced them with his seventh homer in the eighth inning tonight. His move to the leadoff spot still figures to prove temporary, but he’s hit .290 with five walks and six runs scored in eight games since the change, which was made mostly out of desperation.

Crow-Armstrong finds himself back atop Chicago’s lineup with manager Craig Counsell shaking things up. The 24-year-old power/speed combo fantasy threat had been scuffling at the dish this month prior to slugging a two-run homer and walking twice during Friday’s series opener at Wrigley Field. Nico Hoerner moves to the cleanup spot with Alex Bregman and Michael Bush hitting behind Crow-Armstrong. It’s a significant development that fantasy managers should monitor moving forward.

Crow-Armstrong’s homer off Steven Okert, which accounted for the Cubs’ only runs in a 4-2 loss, was his second off a lefty and sixth overall this season. After a nice start to his month of May, he entered the day in a 4-for-37 slump over his previous 11 games.

No word on the exact discipline after Crow-Armstrong was involved in a heated verbal altercation with a female fan over the weekend. The 24-year-old apologized on Monday for his “choice of words” and added that he’s learned from the incident. It doesn’t sound like he’ll face any additional discipline, including a possible suspension, from the league.

The man they call PCA hit his fifth homer of the season with a two-run shot off Trevor Richards in the ninth inning. He also drew a free pass, and his slash now sits at .238/.312/.381 on the campaign. That’s not ideal, and a far cry from the numbers Crow-Armstrong was forging at this point in 2026. We’ll see if that changes, but it’s not hard to be skeptical at this point.

Crow-Armstrong’s fourth home run of the season could not have come at a better time. After the Cubs’ bullpen imploded to turn a two run lead into a two run deficit in the top of the ninth, Crow-Armstrong took Graham Ashcraft deep for a two-run shot to tie the game. He did a good job of getting his bat head on a 90 mph slider that was darting below the zone and golfing it just barely beyond the fence in left-center field. It looked like a load was lifted off his back as he jetted around the bases and is now riding a 10-game on-base streak. Perhaps this was the moment he needed to get his season back on track.