{"id":230727,"date":"2025-09-16T06:48:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T06:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/230727\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T06:48:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T06:48:10","slug":"pete-crow-armstrong-ends-homer-drought-in-chicago-cubs-4-0-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/230727\/","title":{"rendered":"Pete Crow-Armstrong ends homer drought in Chicago Cubs’ 4-0 win"},"content":{"rendered":"

PITTSBURGH \u2014 The bat drop said it all in the moment for Pete Crow-Armstrong.<\/p>\n

A prodigious home run pace in the first half \u2014 27 in an 83-game stretch \u2014 had vanished amid Crow-Armstrong\u2019s pronounced post-All-Star-break struggles. The Chicago Cubs center fielder came into Monday\u2019s series opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates with only six extra-base hits in his last 150 plate appearances spanning 38 games.<\/p>\n

Missing hittable pitches has plagued Crow-Armstrong. He has logged plenty of extra pregame cage work trying to recapture the timing and swing that fueled a major-league-best Cubs offense.<\/p>\n

For the first time since Aug. 22 \u2014 and only the second time in the last seven weeks \u2014 Crow-Armstrong went deep Monday in the Cubs\u2019 4-0 victory. He knew it off the bat, immediately dropping his lumber while watching the no-doubt home run.<\/p>\n

Such moments are part of what makes the 23-year-old special. The strong contingent of Cubs fans at PNC Park broke out the \u201cM-V-Pete\u201d chants that had been a regular celebratory cheer during his torrid first-half performance<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Crow-Armstrong\u2019s 414-foot solo homer to right-center field in the sixth inning gave the Cubs a four-run lead. The advantage held thanks to Jameson Taillon\u2019s six shutout innings, Michael Soroka\u2019s two scoreless innings in his return from the injured list<\/a> and Brad Keller\u2019s strikeout of Jared Triolo for a one-out save after Porter Hodge loaded the bases in the ninth.<\/p>\n

Coupled with a San Francisco Giants loss, the Cubs magic number to clinch a playoff spot dropped to two.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery game that I\u2019m frustrated about, every game that I\u2019m really happy about in the regular season, every game means so much \u2014 like, that\u2019s how I decide to approach this sport,\u201d Crow-Armstrong said. \u201cBut having been here the whole year and seeing our team\u2019s trajectory and being so confident in our situation, I\u2019m excited for playoff baseball when the room for error is a little more minimal and every out does really count.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all a wash. I\u2019m taking whatever feelings I\u2019ve got into that day, into that game, so absolutely I\u2019m ready to go compete and keep this (stuff) going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crow-Armstrong also doubled and stole third base in the fourth. It marked his first game with two extra-base hits since July 30. If he hits one more home run in the next 12 games, he would join Sammy Sosa as only the second Cub with a 30-homer, 30-steal season.<\/p>\n

\"CubsCubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong celebrates his solo home run in the sixth inning against the Pirates on Monday, Sept. 15, 2025 in Pittsburgh. (Justin Berl\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the first half, when we were putting up a ton of runs, he was a focal point of our offense,\u201d Taillon said. \u201cHe was really a centerpiece for us. It\u2019s awesome to see him running all over the field. When he has a dirty uniform at the end of a game, that\u2019s a good sign.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019d be awesome to get him really locked back in. I know he\u2019s been putting in a ton of work. Everyone\u2019s rooting for him. I think if (the TV camera) showed our dugout\u2019s reaction when he hit that, just pure joy for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crow-Armstrong knows one swing can change how things are trending at the plate, though he acknowledged he\u2019s not good at applying that yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still carry a lot of impatience in terms of wanting to produce, be a part of what\u2019s really good about our offense, what\u2019s been really good about our offense all year,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you\u2019re killing rallies and when you feel like you\u2019re not driving in runs that should be driven, then the impatience becomes a little more heightened.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just need to do a better job of really buying into one swing can change it: one feel, a jam shot, a bunt. Like playing the game, not just trying to hit a freaking homer to get out of something.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PITTSBURGH \u2014 The bat drop said it all in the moment for Pete Crow-Armstrong. A prodigious home run…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":230728,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,1271,5386,1818,5439,35013,61637,1277,1886],"class_list":{"0":"post-230727","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-il","11":"tag-illinois","12":"tag-jameson-taillon","13":"tag-magic-number","14":"tag-mlb-playoffs","15":"tag-pete-crow-armstrong","16":"tag-pittsburgh-pirates"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115212642560746164","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230727","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=230727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}