The Chicago Cubs had given the 39,248 fans who packed into Wrigley Field on Saturday little to cheer through 26 outs of their matinee against the San Francisco Giants.
There were more boos than cheers — and even more jeers seemed mere moments away as the Cubs trailed by a run.
Yet there was one player who had given the crowd a fleeting moment to roar at, a second to believe the muddling team could pick up a win and avoid another series loss: All-Star center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong. He already had a home run and three hits, half of the team’s total to that point.
So the crowd rose to its feet, cheering — almost willing — the lone bright spot in an otherwise gloomy offensive performance as he stepped up to bat.
Photos: Chicago Cubs beat San Francisco Giants in 10 innings
He needed just one pitch, one instant, to deliver an electric moment that helped the crowd roar like it hadn’t all day. Crow-Armstrong crushed a 403-foot solo home run to right field to force extra innings, where the Cubs eventually would squeak out a 3-2 win over the Giants.
“He was the hero today,” Cubs starter Ben Brown said. “We needed that. And he delivered and then some.”
Michael Busch delivered the final blow, ripping a single off left-hander Sam Hentges to right field, where Victor Bericoto overran the ball, allowing pinch runner Dansby Swanson to score. It was a league-best eighth walk-off win for the Cubs.
Crow-Armstrong’s blast in the ninth was his second of the day, and he finished 4-for-5 to extend his career-best hitting streak to 11 games. Both home runs came a half-inning after the Cubs had surrendered the lead.
Brown, who allowed just a hit and a walk with five strikeouts, was pulled after recording the first out in the sixth in a scoreless game. Cubs manager Craig Counsell turned to left-hander Caleb Thielbar with lefty sluggers Rafael Devers and Luis Arraez due up and Brown at 87 pitches, the most he has thrown this season.
“I didn’t really throw the ball well against Devers and Arraez today,” Brown said of the duo, who were the only two baserunners against him. “We have some really good lefties in the bullpen. It’s a great lefty pocket.”
The matchup decision backfired, as Thielbar surrendered a solo shot to Devers for the first run of the game. Counsell was steadfast in his choice to pull Brown, especially because the 26-year-old is still in a bit of a transition role as a starter after beginning the year in the bullpen. Saturday’s start was his sixth of the year and his 18th appearance.
“Ben was just done,” Counsell said. “That was the limit we were going to go with him. This is a reliever that we’re transitioning to a starter, and we’ve still got to be careful with the pitches. And his health over the course of the season is going to be the priority.”
That’s because Brown has developed into the Cubs’ best starter, which he again showed Saturday. He hasn’t allowed a home run in his last 56 2/3 innings, the longest streak in the majors and the longest by a Cub pitcher since Jake Arrieta’s 60 1/3-inning streak in 2015.
Brown is the only member of the current rotation to have an ERA below 4.59 — he’s at 1.74 for the season and 1.44 in his six starts.
Cubs starter Ben Brown is congratulated in the dugout after being pulled from the game in the sixth inning against the Giants on Saturday, June 6, 2026, at Wrigley Field. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
“He’s been so nails,” Crow-Armstrong said. “I feel like there’s just so much confidence in every pitch that he’s throwing. He’s really becoming a pretty incredible starting pitcher in front of everybody.”
Crow-Armstrong erased the deficit leading off the bottom of the sixth with a 386-foot blast to right. He celebrated intensely as he rounded the bases, exchanging gestures with his teammates and relishing in delivering for his team.
“Yeah, but before that, I want to be in that situation, and I think I share that with a lot of people in this clubhouse,” Crow-Armstrong said.
It was a moment for the home crowd to cheer, but an inning later those same fans heckled the Cubs. Crow-Armstrong started a two-out rally with a single, Miguel Amaya was hit by a pitch and Busch hit a 41.8 mph infield single to load the bases for prized offseason acquisition Alex Bregman.
Bregman struck out, and the crowd booed as he walked away from the plate.
The Cubs seemed destined for their third straight series loss and eighth in the last nine when the Giants scored a run against closer Daniel Palencia in the top of the ninth.
Chicago Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong celebrates as he rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run in the sixth inning of a game against the San Francisco Giants at Wrigley Field in Chicago on June 6, 2026. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
But with Crow-Armstrong due up in the bottom half and on a heater much like he was in the first half of the 2025 season, the Cubs had a shot.
“You’re out of things to say when he gets on these rolls,” Counsell said. “I know you guys ask about them a lot, like, ‘Is this it? Is this it?’ And I actually understand now why, because it’s so great when it happens.
“It’s single-handed at times that you should be trying to figure out when it’s coming, I don’t have the answer of when it’s coming. I will never have the answer of when it’s coming, but it’s pretty cool to watch.”
Roster updates
Swanson was kept out of the lineup amid a 7-for-50 (.140) funk over his last 15 games.
“We haven’t seen many signs of positive results from it,” Counsell said before the game, “but let’s try to commit to a couple more days of good work and maybe cement some of those thoughts and habits and then take it into a game again.”
The Cubs optioned right-hander Ethan Roberts before the game and recalled right-hander Javier Assad to provide length out of the bullpen.