NEW YORK — Cubs speedster Pete Crow-Armstrong grabbed the helmet off his head halfway between first and second, and, as he slid, his momentum carried him across second base. With no panic, the rookie held the helmet on the base, completing an RBI double with a little extra pizzazz.
“Pete had a nice game, was a big part of the offense today,” manager Craig Counsell said after the Cubs lost 7-6 to the Mets in 11 innings Thursday. “Pete had a good road trip, absolutely.”
Crow-Armstrong, an ex-Mets prospect, played against his former organization this week for the first time in his young major-league career.
The Mets clearly saw promise in Crow-Armstrong. After drafting him No. 19 overall in 2020, they invited him to major-league camp the next spring training. His time in the organization, however, was cut short by right shoulder surgery.
Crow-Armstrong had only played six minor-league games in the Mets’ organization when he was traded to the Cubs — who were tearing down at the deadline — for shortstop Javy Baez, right-hander Trevor Williams and cash.
“When you first get drafted and you think you’re gonna be a Met for however long, yeah, you’re picturing playing at Citi Field and roaming the outfield and whatnot,” Crow-Armstrong said in a recent conversation with the Sun-Times. “But the idea of being a Met never really got to form. And so I feel like I started dreaming about Wrigley.”
When the Cubs recalled Crow-Armstrong last week after center fielder Cody Bellinger (fractured ribs) went on the 10-day injured list, Counsell made it clear that Crow-Armstrong was there to make an impact on defense and the basepaths. But his bat started heating up almost immediately, leading up to the Cubs’ trip to Citi Field.
After going 0-for-14 last year, the Cubs’ top prospect got his first major-league hit — a game-winning home run against the Astros at Wrigley Field — a week ago.
Then the Cubs headed to Fenway Park, where Crow-Armstrong went 4-for-9 with two RBI in a three-game series against the Red Sox.
“It was one of those series where you just get your hits, and you’re not wowed by anything, but then you look up, and he had four hits in the series and a lot of opposite-field hits,” Counsell said. “Getting jammed with two strikes and — that’s hitting. So that was really encouraging, and he should feel good about it.”
How much could that be attributed to him breaking the seal, so to speak, with his first hit?
“It was nice to get it out of the way, but you’re not really going to get much more on it than that,” Crow-Armstrong said. “That’s what it is for me. It just frees me up a little bit to say I did it. And then I think what we’re seeing now is just conversations with teammates and coaches and the cage work and refining little things and creating a good routine.”
Against the Mets, Crow-Armstrong was a difference-maker on offense in back-to-back games.
He drove in the only run of the Cubs’ win Wednesday, working a full count, then driving a hanging slider to the warning track for a sacrifice fly.
“Super-impressive,” said left fielder Ian Happ, who initiated the game-securing double play Wednesday. “Those are the at-bats you need. The offense obviously isn’t clicking; we’re not firing on all cylinders right now. So to be able to drive that run across and the pitchers to keep us in it, awesome for those guys to do that for us.”
On Thursday, he drove in the Cubs’ first run, grounding out to the right side with the bases loaded and one out in the second inning.
In the sixth, he lined the RBI double into the right-field corner to give the Cubs a 5-2 lead.
