SAN DIEGO — Pete Crow-Armstrong heard yapping behind home plate.
Alex Bregman, originally not in the Chicago Cubs lineup because of a sore toe from a hit by pitch Sunday, was called on to pinch hit in the seventh inning Tuesday night at Petco Park. The situation — two outs and runners on the corners — was ideal to deploy Bregman against San Diego Padres lefty Wandy Peralta, and Bregman came through with an RBI single to give the Cubs a two-run lead.
While standing on deck during Bregman’s two-pitch at-bat, Crow-Armstrong picked up on a Padres fan making a comment about trash cans to the former Houston Astro.
“That was all I needed to get locked in,” Crow-Armstrong said.
Crow-Armstrong capitalized on a pitch left over the plate and slugged a three-run homer to center field, effectively putting away the Cubs’ 8-3 win over the Padres.
At one point Crow-Armstrong, in his own way, told the woman to be quiet.
“It’s a bummer when you talk s−−− and then ‘wap’ and then ‘wap,'” Crow-Armstrong said. “They don’t know how hard it is to go pitch and get a guy like that out. I mean, that’s such a cool part about this lineup is if he’s not playing and he’s coming off the bench, that’s a top-10 hitter in the world coming up in a big spot and making my life a little easier.”
Crow-Armstrong initially wasn’t sure his deep fly ball would clear the fence. Watching the trajectory of the baseball and knowing Padres center fielder Jackson Merrill’s ability to rob would-be homers — plus the uncertainty of how well balls fly during night games at Petco Park — Crow-Armstrong figured Merrill would come down with the baseball.
Merrill, though, couldn’t snag it.
Manager Craig Counsell believed the number of looks Crow-Armstrong has gotten against lefties this year helped him Tuesday against Peralta. Among left-on-left matchups, Crow-Armstrong has seen the fourth-most pitches in the majors.
“The thing that’s been a little unique here is he’s been really good against the left-handed pitching,” Counsell said. “It’s a huge swing, just changes the game, changes the energy of the game.”
After batting practice Tuesday, hitting coach Dustin Kelly pointed to the body of work Crow-Armstrong had put together over the last week, largely showing he was heading in the right direction.
“We’re always talking about doing damage in the zone — that’s our No. 1 goal — and some guys have the ability to go outside of that zone,” Kelly told the Tribune. “Pete can be a little extreme at times, but there’s also a calmness that he needs to maintain to be able to still drive balls, even if they’re a little bit outside.
“And when his direction is right and he’s using the middle of the field and it’s not just dead pull, he has the ability to stay on some pitches that are tougher pitches to hit, and we started to see a little bit of that lately.”
Crow-Armstrong admitted he’s always tinkering with his swing, knowing that, with how hard it can be to consistently repeat it over the course of the season, it will likely never be at the root of his success.
More Top Picks Best Travel Organizers
Instead, he pointed to his approach, which he feels has been great lately. He referenced a timely pregame conversation with Nico Hoerner, who encouraged him to find a way to be the best version of himself even when hits might not be falling.
“The at-bats have stayed consistently tough,” Crow-Armstrong said. “I feel like I’ve done my best to keep myself in it.”
Right-hander Edward Cabrera allowed three runs on six hits and struck out seven while working around one walk. He recorded a season-high 20 whiffs, the second-most in his career. (He had 21 on April 18, 2023, with the Miami Marlins.)
Dansby Swanson’s two-run double in the second off Padres starter Walker Buehler provided an early lead. Swanson exited between half-innings because of left glute cramps. He got banged up on a steal of third after the double, but Counsell was optimistic it wasn’t serious.
Hoerner came through again with runners on base when he smacked a two-run double to break the tie in the sixth. His 26 RBIs are tied for third in MLB.
The post-win clubhouse vibes were high. The victory represented the 900th of Counsell’s career.
For a Cubs team finding different ways to be successful during a stretch that has seen them win 11 of their last 14 games, Tuesday’s performance got them back on track to snap a three-game losing streak.
Crow-Armstrong, at one point explaining what he took away from his pregame chat with Hoerner, dropped a line from rapper J Cole that Bregman suggested he use to describe his recent stretch: “There’s beauty in the struggle, ugliness in the success.”