It feels fitting for Pete Crow-Armstrong to be right in the middle of the defining inning of this game. He scored two of the first three runs in the game. He had a hand in the other scoring, though he doesn’t get an RBI for his aggressive baserunning and the opportunity (however ill-advised) that it created for Vidal Bruján.
Pete had a fantastic weekend as he’s stayed blazing hot for weeks now. For five innings on Sunday, Jonathan Cannon shutdown the Cubs almost entirely. One of the few hits was Pete’s triple leading of the bottom of the first that led to the first run. After that first inning, Cannon threw four perfect innings. He’d retired 13 straight batters before Brujan lined a single to start the sixth. That ultimately led to a four run inning. After that, the Cubs had this one very much in control.
This one wasn’t terribly surprising. I didn’t think Colin Rea would blink about the Cubs’ weird Sunday record. I’m not surprised that the Cubs struggled with a strike thrower. Cannon now has four starts in May without walking a hitter. Rea wasn’t amazing but pitched into the sixth. Four Cubs relievers held the Sox to four hits with no walks over 3⅔ innings. That amounted to one run and the Sox never really got back into this one.
I’m not going to include any relievers in my Three Stars, so I’ll make a special nod here to Drew Pomeranz, who has emerged as a Swiss Army knife for the bullpen. Brad Keller continues to raise eyebrows and the hit or miss of Ryan Pressly continues. He’s basically only been very good or very bad. That added to Porter Hodge not seeing the field in this one and being fresh Monday in Miami.
This homestand was no work of art. And yet, here are the Cubs with five wins in six games You can’t really have higher expectations than that. Four is good, five is what you really want and six is well into bonus territory. The Cubs continue to sit among the best teams in baseball with the easiest schedule remaining of any team. If this was a stock, you’d have to be buying it.
If this team was going to break through in 2025, you’d have had to guess that the rise of Pete Crow-Armstrong would be a big piece of it. That’s absolutely the case. There is no hyperbole in the statement that PCA is an MVP candidate to this point in the season. He should be an All-Star. It’s remarkable and it’s fun to watch. He’s an electric player and though the decision-making wasn’t great, he caused chaos that helped with each of the first three runs on a day when three was enough to win.
Pitch Counts:
Sox: 145 (8 IP), 36 BF
Cubs: 134, 35 BF
Obviously, you can eyeball it that the Sox threw more pitches in one less inning. Cannon, for generally being successful, ended up throwing 88 pitches without getting an out in the sixth. It was a good but not great performance. Brandon Eisert was technically the most effective pitcher, needing only 15 pitches to face five batters. Alas, he allowed three hits and was charged with a run in there. Somehow he managed to allow three hits and strikeout two hitters among five batters faced. Pretty wild.
On the Cubs side, Pomeranz managing to face three batters on six pitches (and notch a strikeout) was huge. Pressly had a nine-pitch inning that also included a hit. Keller had a 12-pitch inning. So the Cubs bullpen was just really efficient. Even Julian Merryweather faced five batters on 14 pitches. Keller threw in his second straight game, he almost certainly has to be down Monday night. But the Cubs should have a healthy complement of pitchers again. They can go after a fourth straight win.
Three Stars:
Pete Crow-Armstrong was the star of the game again. A triple, a double, two runs scored.
Nico Hoerner had a pair of doubles, a run batted in and a run scored.
Vidal Bruján had a pair of singles, a baserunning adventure with a great slide, a run scored and an RBI. Ladies and gentlemen, this is not a drill, the Cubs received third base production.
Game 47, May 18: Cubs 6, White Sox 2 (28-19)
Fangraphs
Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.
THREE HEROES:
Superhero: Pete Crow-Armstrong (.258). 2-4, 3B, 2B, 2 R
Hero: Colin Rea (.142). 5⅓ IP, 20 BF, 4 H, 2 BB, ER, 3K (W 4-0)
Sidekick: Drew Pomeranz (.077). ⅔ IP, 3 BF, H, K
THREE GOATS:
Billy Goat: Dansby Swanson (-.054). 1-4, R, SB
*This is all a timing thing. The first two times he was up, he led off an inning and was retired. The fourth at-bat single was worth basically nothing and the steal not much more.
Goat: Carson Kelly (-.051). 0-4
Kid: Moises Ballesteros (-.034). 0-2
WPA Play of the Game: PCA’s sixth-inning double that led to the second run. (.182)
*Sox Play of the Game: Miguel Vargas continued his strong series. (.131)
Cubs Player of the Game:
Poll
Who was the Cubs Player of the Game?
4%
Seiya Suzuki (0-1, 2 SF, BB, 2 RBI, outfield assist)
(5 votes)
0%
Someone else (leave your suggestion in the comments)
(0 votes)
102 votes total
Yesterday’s Winner: Dansby Swanson received 113 of 180 votes.
Rizzo Award Standings: (Top 5/Bottom 5)
The award is named for Anthony Rizzo, who finished first in this category three of the first four years it was in existence and four times overall. He also recorded the highest season total ever at +65.5. The point scale is three points for a Superhero down to negative three points for a Billy Goat.
Kyle Tucker +16
Shōta Imanaga +11
PCA +10.5
Drew Pomeranz/Colin Rea +9
4 players +8
2 players -7
Ben Brown -9
Michael Busch -10.5
Julian Merryweather -13
Seiya Suzuki -13.5
Up Next: The Cubs head on the road to face the Marlins (18-27). The Cubs took two of three from a Marlins team that has been terrible on the road. But the Marlins are 12-13 at home. So this series is no gimme. Ben Brown (3-3, 4.75, 41⅔ IP) starts for the Cubs. He was relatively effective against the Marlins last week at Wrigley. In three May starts, he’s allowed five runs in 16⅓ IP.
27-year-old Edward Cabrera (0-1, 5.52, 29⅓ IP) did not pitch against the Cubs at Wrigley. His last start was against the White Sox and he allowed a run over five innings. His numbers are skewed a bit by a five runs in four inning game on the road against the Dodgers. He’s made 67 career starts over five seasons and only two relief appearances. He won a game against the Cubs last year at Wrigley even though he allowed three runs over five innings.
Another winnable game. Keep stacking.