Chicago Cubs outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong made a rare defensive flub on Thursday. He more than made up for it.
The Gold Glove center fielder became the butt of jokes — temporarily — against the Athletics when he lost a fly balls from A’s catcher Shea Langeliers in the lights at Wrigley Field, leading to an inside-the-park homer and a 4-0 A’s lead in the sixth inning.
While appearing to be an error, balls lost in the lights or sun are typically ruled a base hit. That was the case here, with Cubs starter Shota Imanaga taking the statistical blow as part of his six earned runs allowed.
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Of course, there are very few inside-the-park homers that don’t include a defensive misplay of some sort.
Fortunately for Crow-Armstrong, baseball has a way of offering you opportunities to redeem yourself. He got the Cubs on the board later in the sixth inning with a solo homer.
The A’s entered the bottom of the ninth inning with a 6-3 lead, but the Cubs proceeded to rough up reliever Joel Kuhnel. The A’s pulled Kuhnel for Luis Medina who eventually found himself facing Crow-Armstrong in a tie game with two outs and runners on second and third.
Crow-Armstrong delivered a single to right field to give the Cubs a 7-6 win.
Crow-Armstrong won his first career Gold Glove last season, his first full MLB campaign, and entered Thursday as the MLB leader in Baseball Savant’s Fielding Run Value, across all positions. His outfield range is unmatched in MLB, though that’s only the case if he can see the ball.
Langeliers’ “homer” was his second of the game, after previously hitting a solo shot off Imanaga to open the scoring in the fourth inning. He’s the first player to post a combination of traditional homer and inside-the-park homer since his teammate Lawrence Butler did it last season.
The win improves the Cubs’ record to 33-30, keeping them in fourth place in the stacked NL Central. They are currently six games back from the first-place Milwaukee Brewers.
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