LOS ANGELES – From center field, Cubs rookie Pete Crow-Armstrong willed reliever Porter Hodge to throw another fastball.
With the Cubs leading 6-3 in the ninth inning, Hodge had pitched to a full count against the Dodgers’ Max Muncy – even after needing an injury delay midway through the at-bat as his heart rate elevated beyond what felt normal. But manager Craig Counsell said after that game that Hodge told him he’d felt something similar before and it would pass. He stayed in the game.
“His heater’s so good, and 3-2 like that, after what went down, I was just hoping he’d go compete,” Crow-Armstrong said. “Porter always finds a way to do that. And I was just ready for the contact.”
Crow-Armstrong got his wish. Hodge threw a fastball up in the zone, and Muncy lifted it just beyond the right-center field fence. Crow-Armstrong was there and timed his leap perfectly to rob Muncy of a two-run homer and end the game.
“That one’s going to be played a lot, for sure,” Counsell said. “And deserves to be. He had a heck of a game on defense.”
Defense was the deciding factor Tuesday, as the Cubs’ victory clinched a series win in Los Angeles. They exploited the Dodgers’ defensive mistakes to launch an eighth-inning comeback, and they made crisp plays behind a strong all-around pitching performance. But no one had more eye-popping moments than Crow-Armstrong, who put together the most impressive defensive game of his young career.
“He’s a wild card in that it’s a whole new factor just to play around,” second baseman Nico Hoerner said. “… It’s just such a unique level of athlete and ability to impact the game that I think it’s just going to get better and better the more that we all play together, and the more that he learns his best version of himself at this level. It’s just been so fun to watch all year.”
For Crow-Armstrong, a Los Angeles native, the setting Tuesday only added to the fun.
“I love it,” he said. “I don’t think I quite grew up hoping for any of this stuff. I didn’t grow up a Dodgers fan, but I came to a lot of games here and spent a lot of time here. Matt Kemp was the center fielder growing up for me. And it just feels cool roaming around where I watched from afar a lot.”
The home run robbery rightfully stole the show. But Crow-Armstrong’s sliding catch to end the seventh inning highlighted his range to an extreme.
With two outs and a runner on first, the Dodgers’ Kiké Hernández hit an opposite-field fly ball into what looked like no man’s land. Yet there was Crow-Armstrong, making a back-handed grab as he slid across the warning track.
Cubs starter Shota Imanaga, who held the Dodgers to three runs through seven innings, applauded over his head.
“When the ball went in the air, I was prepared for a run,” Imanaga said through interpreter Edwin Stanberry. “But when it was coming down, knowing it was Pete, I had faith in him.”
Crow-Armstrong made another play in the right-center gap the next inning with reliever Nate Pearson on the mound. Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani hit a fly ball to the warning track, and the screaming crowd drowned out the communication between Crow-Armstrong and right fielder Cody Bellinger.
Both slowed, spelling potential disaster. But Crow-Armstrong quickly recognized the misunderstanding and before the ball could hit the ground, he dropped into a lunge and made the catch look easy.
“It feels like he has some Velcro or something in his glove,” designated hitter and right fielder Seiya Suzuki joked through Stanberry, “because he just keeps making these great plays.”
Even Crow-Armstrong couldn’t explain how he managed to come away with that final play Wednesday, as two fans reached for the ball and one appeared to graze it with his outstretched hat. Back on the ground, the ball safe in his glove, Crow-Armstrong jumped and skipped across the outfield, celebrating a gutsy win against one of the best teams the Cubs will face down the stretch.
“That one just made me really happy, seeing him react like that,” Hoerner said, “just the joy and confidence he’s playing with.”