CINCINNATI — No matter where Craig Counsell puts Pete Crow-Armstrong in the Chicago Cubs lineup, the center fielder is producing at a record rate.
Crow-Armstrong’s first career grand slam in the seventh inning of Friday night’s 13-6 win over the Cincinnati Reds made him the first Cubs player since runs batted in became an official stat in 1920 to have two games with at least six RBIs in a calendar month.
The 23-year old outfielder — who batted cleanup on Friday night — drove in six runs from the leadoff spot in the Cubs’ 13-3 victory over the White Sox on May 16.
“It’s real cool. We always find a lot of interesting stats in this game I’m starting to see,” Crow-Armstrong said. “I’m very lucky to be able to move around throughout this lineup and have a lot of opportunities in front of me. I don’t get that without my dudes on base.”
According to Sportradar, it is the 36th time a major-league player has had two six RBI games in a calendar month. The last player to do it before Crow-Armstrong was Derek Dietrich, who accomplished the feat in May 2019 for the Reds.
Crow-Armstrong had a two-run homer in the fourth inning. With the Cubs trailing 6-4 with two outs in the seventh inning, he connected on Tony Santillan’s elevated slider, which hit off the right-field foul pole to put the Cubs on top for good.
It was his fourth career multi-homer game and second this season.
Crow-Armstrong looked like a golfer after hitting the pitch trying to will the ball to stay fair as it was hooking and then did an emphatic bat flip after it ricocheted off the pole. He celebrated while rounding the bases.
“I thought it was going foul, and then it didn’t,” he said. “I’ve learned that it is nice to be able to enjoy those moments. Getting to look in the dugout after that ball hits the foul pole is one of the more rewarding things as I go about my day. I think this is a sport where you should appreciate those moments, and we’ve had a lot of those this year, so it’s been nice to be able to to kind of cherish those.”
Crow-Armstrong is tied for seventh in the majors with 14 home runs. However, all of them have come in the last 34 games. He is the third Cub since 1901 to have at least 14 round trippers in that span, joining Sammy Sosa and Hank Sauer, who did it twice.
He’s also third in the majors with 45 RBIs and tied for sixth with 14 stolen bases.
According to Elias, he is the third big-league player since 1920 with at least 14 homers, 14 steals and 45 RBIs through the first 51 games of a season. Eric Davis was the last to do it in 1987 with the Reds and Ken Williams the first with the 1922 St. Louis Browns.
“There’s no question that Pete’s kind of doing some things very uniquely right,” Counsell said. “And he does some things that other guys can’t do. And that’s so much fun to watch. That’s why you hear people chant his name all the time. So we’re lucky to be able to watch something like this.”
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