Cubs Win Game to Crow About
Pete Crow-Armstrong (CHC): 3-5, 2B, 2 HR, 2 R, 4 RBI.
Often, when I sit down to write these recaps, I want to feature someone who isn’t usually in the conversation for best hitter in the sport. It’s not like we’re learning much when we see an Aaron Judge multi-homer game or a Bobby Witt Jr. combo meal. Still, it’s important sometimes to appreciate greatness when we’re given the opportunity to witness it. Greatness was in abundance in yesterday’s Cubs-Dodgers game, which the Cubs narrowly took 7-6 thanks to Pete Crow-Armstrong’s 3-5 night with two homers.
The Cubs trailed 1-0 in this one only because they were batting in the bottom half of the inning. Once they got an opportunity to hit, though, PCA smoked the first pitch available to center for a leadoff homer, tying the game. The Cubs’ bats had it going early, as PCA returned to the plate in the second with a runner on third. This time, he pulled a breaking ball into the right field corner for an RBI double that would have left 15 parks. PCA’s third at-bat was another pulled fly ball, this time bouncing off the giant scoreboard at the back of the right field bleachers. Dodgers’ pitching appeared to learn not to throw any more center-cut fastballs to him, as he struck out and popped out in his final two at-bats.
Statcast thinks Crow-Armstrong is running a little hot relative to his batted ball quality, but he’s doing so many things his managers should be happy to see. He added power to his game last year, although it came with the cost of a .287 OBP. This year, he’s exploded at the plate by swinging less, cutting his chase rate by 8 percentage points. This newfound patience, combined with ABS shrinking the strike zone, has improved his walk rate from 4.7% over his first two seasons to 11.9% this year. He’s also swinging the bat 2 mph harder than last year, and 4 mph harder than in 2024.
Let’s see how the other hitters did Wednesday…
Shohei Ohtani (LAD): 3-5, 2 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI.
The other frontrunner for NL MVP is the reason the Cubs were down at all in this one, leading off the game with a homer. The Dodgers offense couldn’t get anything else going until it struck for five runs in the eighth inning, including Ohtani’s second homer of the night, this time of the two-run variety. Ohtani’s homers showed off his full range of hitting, pulling an elevated fastball to right for his first homer, and serving a low-and-away breaking ball the opposite way for his second. Oh, and the Dodgers who are “ruining baseball?” They’re 2-8 over their past 10 games.
Wilyer Abreu (BOS): 2-3, HR, 3 R, RBI, BB, SB.
Abreu and a dominant pitching performance from Sonny Gray secured a series victory for Boston in the Sox-off against Chicago last night. Abreu had three hard-hit balls on the night. He reached in the first on a line drive single and advanced on a wild pitch before coming around to score on a Willson Contreras single. In the third inning, he yanked an up-and-away slider beyond the White Sox bullpen in right-center for his 20th homer of the season. He even picked up his 7th steal of the season in the 8th inning after reaching on a free pass, leaving him on track for a 25-10 season.
CJ Abrams (WSN): 3-5, 3B, 2 R, 3 RBI, SB.
Abrams did not end up switching teams at the deadline to the dismay of the Phillies last night. After a delayed start due to rain, Abrams was hit by a pitch in the first at-bat of the game, then got his revenge on the basepaths, stealing second and scoring on a Keibert Ruiz single. This was a quiet game offensively for most of the night, as Abrams and the Nationals didn’t score again until the 7th inning. Abrams singled in Jacob Young in that inning, but the offensive explosion happened in extra innings. After Young walked to lead off the 11th inning, Abrams brought him and ghost runner Brady House home with a two-run triple that bounced off the wall in center and got away from a jumping Derek Hill. If he hadn’t stopped to admire it off the bat, Abrams could have had an inside-the-park homer, but the Nationals scored 6 in the inning anyway.
Brandon Nimmo (TEX): 2-3, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB.
It perhaps hasn’t been the season Nimmo was hoping for in Texas, with the Rangers sitting below .500 despite picking up the victory in this one. He’s done his part at the plate, though, with last night’s game raising his line to .274/.342/.445. Nimmo’s 12th homer of the year was a line drive down the line to left field, just sneaking above the wall. He added a walk and a line drive RBI single in his productive outing as well.
Julio Rodríguez (SEA): 2-3, HR, R, 3 RBI, BB.
Rodriguez was decisive in this one, as the Mariners beat the Tigers 4-2. In the sixth inning, Rodriguez got a 97 mph sinker on the outside corner and rifled it into the right field stands. His three-run homer provided the first runs of the game, and the Tigers couldn’t ever catch up. Rodriguez struggled in the middle of the season, with June and July providing monthly OPSes of .651 and .576, respectively. He’s on fire to start August, though, going 6-13 with 5 walks in his first 4 games of the new month.
Dillon Dingler (DET): 2-3, HR, R, 2 RBI, BB.
Dingler did his best to get the Tigers offense started yesterday, but got no help from his teammates. Dingler came up with Gleyber Torres on first in the eighth inning, immediately following the ejection of Gabe Speier after he hit the 5th batter of the game and benches cleared. Dingler sent a 96 mph sinker back out to center at 109 mph for a two-run homer. Other than the HBPs, the rest of the Tigers lineup reached base just twice.
Tim Tawa (ARI): 3-4, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI.
Tawa and the Diamondbacks gave new Padre Casey Mize a rude welcome to the NL West. The Diamondbacks’ utility man has some pop, swinging the bat 74 mph this season. He showed it off last night, with four batted balls between 104.7 and 105.8 mph. Tawa’s also got pretty decent plate discipline, with a 39% zSwing-oSwing. He’s done nothing but get better as the season progresses, with monthly OPSes starting with a 5 in April and May, a 7 in June and July, and a 9 thus far in August.
Ildemaro Vargas (ARI): 2-5, 2B, 3B, 4 RBI.
Remember when Vargas was hitting .378 at the end of April? An extremely rough stretch in May and June brought his numbers back to where we expected them at the start of the season, although Vargas has had a strong July and August. Vargas’s two-run double came as the Diamondbacks batted around in the fourth inning, giving them an 8-0 lead. He added a two-run triple in the 8th inning off the right-field wall. Hat tip to Padres right fielder Jason Bowen, who crashed into the wall going for Vargas’s fly ball, then did a backwards somersault and got the ball back into the infield to prevent an inside-the-park homer.
Victor Mesa Jr. (TBR): 2-3, 2 3B, R, RBI.
Mesa led off the game with a grounder down the first-base line that ended up in the right field corner for a triple. He scored on a Jonathan Aranda single one batter later, and that was all the offense the Rays would need in Colorado. He added a second triple in the second inning, sending a ball out to center at 103.6 mph and landing it behind Cole Carrigg. Mesa has just a .222 BABIP despite 68th percentile sprint speed and 74 mph bat speed. He’s definitely an intriguing player in the mold of past Rays outfielders like Jose Siri.
Photo by Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire | Featured image by Ethan Kaplan (@djfreddie10.bsky.social on Bluesky and @EthanMKaplanImages on Instagram)
