{"id":149101,"date":"2025-08-15T23:55:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T23:55:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/149101\/"},"modified":"2025-08-15T23:55:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T23:55:14","slug":"chicago-cubs-lose-to-pittsburgh-pirates-3-2-at-wrigley-field","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/149101\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Cubs lose to Pittsburgh Pirates 3-2 at Wrigley Field"},"content":{"rendered":"

Slumping Pete Crow-Armstrong had three hits and reached base four times Friday.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the good news for Cubs fans.<\/p>\n

The bad news is the star center fielder was thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double in the fourth inning and overslid second base on a steal attempt and was tagged out in the bottom of the ninth in a 3-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates in front of a Wrigley Field crowd of 40,044.<\/p>\n

Worse news is that in the seventh inning, he suffered a knee injury trying to make a diving catch of a double hit by Isaiah Kiner-Falefa, though the severity of the injury is unknown.<\/p>\n

Crow-Armstrong was not available to speak with the media after the game, and manager Craig Counsell downplayed the injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe banged his knee similar to the injury on the slide against Boston (July 20) that he missed a game with,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cHe was a little shaken up right after. But he was good enough to stay in the game and good enough to run.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chicago native and Taft graduate Jack Suwinski, who entered the game hitting .118, tagged Cubs reliever Daniel Palencia (1-3) with a ninth-inning solo home run to provide the winning margin for the Pirates (52-71).<\/p>\n

Crow-Armstrong had three of the Cubs\u2019 six hits. He was 3-for-41 in August heading into the game.<\/p>\n

He ripped a double to right in the second inning and belted a run-scoring single to right in the fourth, but he was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double.<\/p>\n

He was hit on the hip by a David Bednar pitch in the seventh to start a rally as he came home on a Matt Shaw sacrifice fly and then singled and had the base-stealing miscue in the ninth.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love that he was ready to go from the first pitch,\u201d second baseman Nico Hoerner said of Crow-Armstrong. \u201cHe played a really good baseball game today. He makes that slide (in the ninth) and 99 times out of 100, that doesn\u2019t happen. But it did this time and obviously it really (stinks).\u201d<\/p>\n

Added left fielder Ian Happ: \u201cHe\u2019s a competitor and we\u2019re all frustrated when we make mistakes. That\u2019s part of the game. We wouldn\u2019t have been in that game without him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CubsCubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong slides past second base on a steal attempt during the ninth inning against the Pirates on Aug. 15, 2025, at Wrigley Field. Armstrong was tagged out on the play. (Michael Reaves\/Getty Images)
\n\"CubsCubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong walks toward the dugout after being tagged out by Pirates shortstop Jared Triolo after sliding past second base on a steal attempt during the ninth inning on Friday, Aug. 15, 2025, at Wrigley Field. (Michael Reaves\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Counsell said Crow-Armstrong had a \u201creally good day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the kind of day that we\u2019re hoping that he has because offensively, he\u2019s such a big part of how we\u2019re going to be successful,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cThe (overslide) was \u2026 you know \u2026 I don\u2019t know what to say about it. It\u2019s unfortunate. It happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before the game, Crow-Armstrong talked about how he was utilizing teammates and having talks with Counsell during his slump.<\/p>\n

\u201cI end up in his office a lot,\u201d Crow-Armstrong said of Counsell. \u201cSometimes it just to (talk) and sometimes it\u2019s to have some real conversations.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got a lot to provide for a guy like me, and he\u2019s shown more support to me than just about anybody in the baseball world. I go see him all the time because he has my back and my best interest in mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cubs (68-53) came into Friday\u2019s game having lost three straight series for the first time this season. They were hoping a three-game set against the last-place Pirates would put them on the right track, especially with a five-game showdown with the first-place Milwaukee Brewers beginning Monday. The Cubs trailed the Brewers by 8\u00bd games after the loss Friday.<\/p>\n

Cub starter Colin Rea gave up just one run in five innings in his no-decision. In the last three games, Cubs starters have allowed four earned runs on six hits in 17 2\/3 innings.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur starting pitching has been impressive for a while,\u201d Hoerner said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been able to support them with a lot of runs for a lot of the year, but we haven\u2019t done lately.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heralded prospect Owen Caissie, who was called up Thursday<\/a> and went 0-for-4 in his MLB debut, did not play Friday. He traveled from Des Moines, Iowa, to Toronto to Chicago on Thursday. He was at Wrigley Field on Friday grateful to be with the Cubs.<\/p>\n

Before the July 31 trade deadline, Caissie\u2019s name was mentioned quite a few times, and he was on pins and needles wondering if he would stay or go.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was stressful,\u201d he said. \u201cI tried to do my best and not pay attention to anything and it was kind of impossible. But as soon as it was 6 o\u2019clock, I was like, \u2018Phew.\u2019 I\u2019m glad I stayed here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Chicago Tribune.<\/p>\n

Originally Published: August 15, 2025 at 5:11 PM CDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Slumping Pete Crow-Armstrong had three hits and reached base four times Friday. That\u2019s the good news for Cubs…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":149102,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,1271,5440,1816,5604,5386,1818,87763,30300,13715,1277,1886],"class_list":{"0":"post-149101","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-chicago-cubs","10":"tag-colin-rea","11":"tag-craig-counsell","12":"tag-ian-happ","13":"tag-il","14":"tag-illinois","15":"tag-jack-suwinski","16":"tag-matt-shaw","17":"tag-nico-hoerner","18":"tag-pete-crow-armstrong","19":"tag-pittsburgh-pirates"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115035486708926660","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}