Pete Crow-Armstrong, you are ridiculous! The Cubs were trailing 3-1 heading into the eighth inning, but thanks to a few errors by the Dodgers Chicago entered the ninth with a 6-3 lead. The Dodgers didn’t go away quietly though, getting a runner on base with two outs against Porter Hodge and then on a full count pitch with two outs, Max Muncy crushed a ball deep to right-center field that definitely looked like his second home run of the night.
HOWEVA! Pete Crow-Armstrong ranged back and called game, making yet another spectacular catch that sealed a 6-3 comeback win for the Cubs, clinching their road series against the Dodgers.
Unbelievable! Yet, at the same time I think most Cubs fans now expect PCA to make every single one of these difficult plays because I don’t remember a prospect being hyped up as much as Crow-Armstrong was when he was coming up through the minors in regards to his elite defense and has actually exceeded those expectations in the majors.
This dude is turning into a star right in front of our eyes. Wow.
By the way, that wasn’t the only great catch made by PCA Tuesday night. Here he is stealing extra bases from Shohei Ohtani to begin the eighth inning after some miscommunication with Cody Bellinger in the gap.
You know what, though, Bellinger probably thought PCA was easily getting to that ball because here’s the other crazy catch the Cubs center fielder made in the previous inning.
There’s always so much focus on what players do in close games at the plate, but how about some credit to Crow-Armstrong for three amazing catches in the 7th, 8th and 9th inning. Call it clutch or whatever you’d like, this guy shows up in all the big moments.
Crow-Armstrong began the scoring for the Cubs, hitting a rocket off Freddie Freeman, who couldn’t keep the hard-hit ball in front of him and allowed Isaac Paredes to score from second base with two outs in the second inning.
A tough play to make, but you know Freeman wishes he could have at least kept the ball in the infield. That was just a sign for what was to come in a terrible defensive eighth inning for the Dodgers later on.
Shōta Imanaga allowed three earned runs in seven innings of work, surrendering three solo home runs. By now Cubs fans know that Imanaga will give up the long ball, but as long as he continues to limit walks, you’ll take his aggressive approach of attacking hitters in the zone. The lefty struck out four and did not walk a batter Tuesday night.
Meanwhile, Yoshinobu Yamamoto returned from the injured list and although he was on a pitch count, the righty was great against the Cubs. Yamamoto gave up that one run in the second inning and nothing else, striking out eight and walking none in four innings of work.
Luckily, the Cubs were able to take advantage of LA’s sloppy defense in the eighth, scoring five times to take a 6-3 lead.
PCA drove in the first run of the game for the Cubs, the last run and ended the game with a ridiculous catch. Have a night!
