CHICAGO — The box score will read it plainly: CS, Pete Crow-Armstrong (6).

That barely scratches the surface of what happened for the Cubs in a difficult 3-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday afternoon at Wrigley Field.

Trailing in the bottom of the ninth inning, Crow-Armstrong led the frame off with a single to left field. It was his third hit of the game and his fourth time reaching base, but this was a big moment. His speed is a game-changing factor and with Nico Hoerner — the hitter with the third-best batting average with runners in scoring position (.378) in baseball — up, the Cubs felt they had an opportunity to tie the game.

So, on the first pitch to Hoerner, Crow-Armstrong darted for second, grabbing a solid jump and beating the throw from Pirates catcher Henry Davis. But the Cubs’ speedster over slid the base and was tagged out for the first out and a massive momentum swing for the Pirates.

“If we’ve got Pete Crow-Armstrong on first, we’re going to run,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said after the loss. “We’ve got one of the top base stealers in baseball. We’re going to take a chance to him to second because on a day where it’s a little bit harder [to score], against a closer, [you need] just one hit instead of two hits.

“It’s a risk, of course, and that’s what happens with a risk, unfortunately. But I think we’ll always try to be aggressive in that situation.”

“If we’ve got Pete Crow-Armstrong on first, we’re gonna run.”

Craig Counsell on PCA’s aggressiveness on the basepaths. pic.twitter.com/rPbhlv4QTw

— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) August 15, 2025

Crow-Armstrong and Counsell had spoken pregame of the lessons he learned during his day off on Thursday in Toronto amid a trying August. Tops among them were not pressing in other areas of the game, specifically on the bases.

“That’s the hard part of this game: you might not be getting the action in center field, feeling you can contribute, you might not be making the right decisions on the basepaths like I have kind of showed recently,” Crow-Armstrong said before the game. “So, when stuff starts to pile up like that, it sucked. But it’s also baseball and I still have however many weeks left in the season and it’s still a lot of time to begin to produce again.”

And yet, it was on the basepaths where Friday’s game had its final turn, one that doomed the Cubs.

Sure, the Cubs offense probably could have and should have put up more runs in the seventh inning when they had the bases loaded and no outs and scored just once. Daniel Palencia’s bread-and-butter fastball caught too much of the heart of the plate for a hitter (Jack Suwinski) who, despite his struggles this season, feasts on heaters down the middle.

But Crow-Armstrong’s potential stolen base had the chance to help erase all of that. Instead, it felt like another “What just happened?” moment that has been occurring more frequently around this team.

“The season’s far from over. There’s a lot of baseball left to play, and to this point, we’ve put ourselves in a good spot.”

Ian Happ on the Cubs’ recent frustrations. pic.twitter.com/vOENVl4FlI

— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) August 15, 2025

“I think just frustration,” Ian Happ said. “You see a lot of guys frustrated, probably see it watching it on TV when hits don’t fall, guys in scoring position, you have a tough at-bat, you feel like you’re letting the group down.

“That’s a frustrating feeling. I think it’s on us to pick each other up and continue to push forward. Season is far from over. There’s a lot of baseball left to play and to this point, we’ve put ourselves in a good spot, and so we got to capitalize on that and see it through.”

Of course, the frustration is palpable for fans. The Cubs are 3-7 in their last 10 games and a loss on either Saturday or Sunday would hand them their fourth straight series loss. But they can’t go on an offensive tear like they did in the first half overnight.

That happens one game at a time — the approach the Cubs are taking, no matter how frustrating that may be to hear for fans during this rut they’ve been stuck in.

“Obviously we hit all the home runs and things were flying around at points early in the year, but regardless of the team, that’s not going to be the case for every part of the season. But you can hold yourself to a really high standard when it comes to defense and base running and all those in-between moments,” Hoerner said. “I do think we’ve had some moments slip that are uncharacteristic from us and they should never waver. I believe in this group a lot.

“I got confidence going into tomorrow in every single one of us, but it’s up to us. You got to make it happen.”