CHICAGO — The air was completely sucked out of the stadium as 40,044 fans stood in silence.
On an afternoon at Wrigley Field packed with excitement thanks to the jets soaring over the stadium, things turned on a dime.
Pirates outfielder — and Chicago native — Jack Suwinski sent a 101 mph fastball from Daniel Palencia into the left field bleachers in the top of the ninth inning to give his team a 3-2 lead.
The Cubs lost by that same score, despite several opportunities to put more runs on the board.
But in what has become a familiar storyline of late, the offense was unable to cash in on those opportunities.
The Pirates took the lead in the fourth and seventh innings, and both times, the Cubs clawed back immediately to tie the game again.
But they couldn’t do so in the ninth, even when Pete Crow-Armstrong led off with a single in a moment that rejuvenated the stunned crowd.
He attempted a steal on the next pitch and slid in safely, but his momentum carried him past the bag and he was tagged out, leaving the crowd silent once again.
That silence turned into boos two batters later after Dansby Swanson grounded out to end the game and give the Cubs one of their toughest losses of the season.
“A couple of close games the last couple days,” left fielder Ian Happ said. “They’re all frustrating. I think this group knows we can play better baseball than we have in the last few weeks and there’s nothing we can do but come out tomorrow and do it again.”
With the loss, the Cubs moved into a tie with the Los Angeles Dodgers for the top NL Wild-Card spot, pending their result Friday night against the San Diego Padres. The Cubs are still four games ahead of the New York Mets, who hold the third — and final — Wild-Card spot as of Friday afternoon.
Here are three things we learned from the game:
Pete Crushes Again
Crow-Armstrong entered play Friday hitting just .073 (3-for-41) with one extra-base hit in August.
[MORE: What PCA has learned amid August slump]
He matched that hit total in Friday’s game alone as he reached base safely in all four trips to the plate.
In his first at-bat, Crow-Armstrong hit a liner down the right field line in his first trip to the plate, hustling into second for a double.
He followed that up with a two-out RBI single in the fourth inning before he was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double:
In his third trip to the plate in the seventh inning, Crow-Armstrong was hit by a pitch and came around to score the tying run on a Matt Shaw sacrifice fly.
The Cubs had loaded the bases with nobody out in the seventh, but were only able to push across the one run, as Carson Kelly and Justin Turner popped out to end the inning.
Crow-Armstrong had been in a nice groove entering August. He hit .308 with a .984 OPS, six homers and 16 RBI in July.
But this month has been a struggle with 15 strikeouts and zero walks in 12 games before Friday.
The Cubs badly need players like Crow-Armstrong and Kyle Tucker to get back to their star-level of performance if they’re going to maintain a playoff position.
But they also need to find a way to cash in on the scoring opportunities they are creating for themselves. A day after going 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position, the Cubs went just 2-for-8 in the same situation (though one of those hits was a bunt single by Swanson in the seventh inning that loaded the bases and did not produce a run).
Flipping the script
The Cubs are nearly unbeatable when a particular pitcher takes the mound.
Except that pitcher is not Matthew Boyd. Or Shota Imanaga. Or even rookie Cade Horton.
It’s Colin Rea, the veteran swingman who did not begin the year in the rotation.
The Cubs had won more than 70% (14-6) of their games when Rea started before Friday’s contest. And he pitched well enough to help his team get a victory against the Pirates, allowing a run on three hits in five innings:
Rea might have been one of the most unheralded pitching signings of the winter, but he has helped his team win games at a higher rate than any other pitcher on the staff.
For comparison, here is the Cubs’ record when the other starters are on the bump:
Matthew Boyd: 12-12
Shota Imanaga: 10-7
Cade Horton: 10-5
Jameson Taillon: 8-9
Ben Brown: 8-7
The Cubs rotation as a whole has a 2.92 ERA since July 1, which leads the majors.
However, the team is just 19-18 in that timeframe, as the offense has struggled at times over the last month and a half.
“Our starting pitching has been really impressive for a while now, in a way that you expect to be able to support them and give them runs,” second baseman Nico Hoerner said after the game. “That’s something we’ve done for a lot of the year, but we haven’t done lately.
” … It’s a team sport, but we all need to be better individually and as a group. Yeah, all parts of the game from the position player group can be better.”
The Cubs have not had a comeback victory since July 2, a span of 35 games. It is the longest such streak in franchise history since at least 1901 (h/t SportRadar).
Top Gun: Wrigley
The Chicago Air & Water Show is one of the coolest weekends of the year to be at Wrigley Field.
Friday was no exception, as the pilots put on a full show during rehearsals for the 40,044 fans in attendance at Wrigley Field.
Jets peppered the air above the stadium all afternoon, including one deafening flyover during the Seventh Inning Stretch as actor Hayden Christensen (aka Anakin Skywalker) tried to belt out the lyrics.
Here are some other shots of the jets from throughout the weekend, courtesy of Marquee Sports Network’s Matt Danielewicz:
The Cubs will try to get back on track Saturday with Imanaga set to take the mound.