Cubs bring back Crow-Armstrong to light a spark, but lose again to Brewers
The Cubs are in a dismal stretch, going 4-12 over the last 16 games and dropping below .500 for the first time since they were 1-2 following the opening series in Texas.
The latest attempt to fix what's ailing the Cubs is some competition. They called up center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong from Triple-A Iowa before Thursday's game, giving the roster five outfielders who expect to play.
There were some dividends in the series finale at Milwaukee, but ultimately the Brewers won 6-4 thanks to a 2-run homer in the eighth inning by catcher Gary Sanchez. The Cubs dropped three of four against manager Craig Counsell's former team.
“I'm disappointed,” Counsell said. “You come here to win games. We've just got to keep going. When you're in a tough stretch, it feels like you don't get breaks. We've got to make our own breaks.”
Seiya Suzuki took a seat Thursday while Crow-Armstrong started in center, but when the Brewers brought in a left-hander from the bullpen, Suzuki pinch-hit for PCA and smacked a tying 2-run homer in the seventh. It was Suzuki's first extra-base hit in more than two weeks.
“It's great to see Seiya take a big swing,” Counsell said. “We desperately need him to get going. He's a big part of our offense.”
Christopher Morel also had a clutch home run, an opposite-field shot in the eighth that tied the score 4-4. Cody Bellinger gave the Cubs a short-lived early lead with a home run in the first inning.
This was the first 3-home run game for the Cubs since they did it in a home game against Milwaukee on May. 4.
“I feel like we're all starting to perform a little better each game,” Suzuki said through his translator. “I think the most important thing is just staying persistent and that's what we're going to do moving forward.”
If there are no injuries, the Cubs will be dividing playing time between outfielders Crow-Armstrong, Bellinger, Suzuki, Mike Tauchman, Ian Happ and first baseman Michael Busch. Counsell said the plan is to mix and match, but any of those players could fall out of the rotation with a cold spell.
“There's going to be days when Pete doesn't play,” Counsell said. “We obviously brought Pete to be a part of this and kind of gives us some more choices throughout the game. I expect that to evolve and hopefully we get a good solution out of it.”
After being sent down on May 21, Crow-Armstrong went 12-for-31 (.387) with 3 home runs in seven games for Iowa. He spent roughly a month with the Cubs when both Bellinger and Suzuki were on the injured list and at the time, president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said Crow-Armstrong would return to the minors when the Cubs got healthy.
Now with the team in a prolonged offensive slump, that plan was revised. Crow-Armstrong is the fastest player on the team, one of the best defensive outfielders the Cubs have ever had and went on a tear in Triple A. It was time to see if he can help the Cubs start winning. Or light a fire under his teammates.
“The preparation is the same and the expectations are still the same,” Crow-Armstrong said. “I need to go catch balls and save runs.
“I've come to find out every little bit of improvement I see in myself offensively usually comes with pitch selection. That was kind of my main focus (with Iowa), swing at the right pitches, which is pretty much what I'm trying to do up here.”
The list of slumping Cubs is too long to mention. In a nutshell, Bellinger is hitting .298 and everyone else is below .250 in May, with several Cubs hitting well below .200.
Starting pitcher Jameson Taillon had a decent outing and completed 6 innings, but the Brewers bunched some hits in the second and scored 3 runs, leaving the Cubs to play from behind once again.
“It feels like on the hitting side, we've flown out to the warning track a bunch,” Taillon said. “On the pitching side we've given up a lot of weak hits. That's baseball. That's the game we play. At some point it will go our way.”
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