Pete Crow-Armstrong was a triple away from the cycle Saturday night in San Francisco.
The Chicago Cubs center fielder was well aware of how close he was to the feat and had it on his mind during the final five innings. He fell short, though, striking out in his final two at-bats.
Crow-Armstrong avoided the same fate Monday night at Wrigley Field in the Cubs’ 5-4 win over the Colorado Rockies. The walk-off victory, which required two runs in the bottom of the ninth, was their ninth of the season, tying the 2015 team for the most walk-off wins through 36 home games in franchise history.
Crow-Armstrong’s single to right field off lefty reliever Brennan Bernardino in the seventh inning gave him the cycle, the Cubs’ first since catcher Carson Kelly pulled it off March 31, 2025, in West Sacramento, Calif., against the Athletics. Crow-Armstrong became the 12th Cubs player to do it for the 13th time overall and joined Hack Wilson (June 23, 1930) as the only Cubs center fielders to accomplish the feat.
He also became the first Cub to hit a reverse cycle — home run, triple, double, single in order — team historian Ed Hartig reported.
“I appreciated the reception from the stadium,” Crow-Armstrong said. “I know it’s a rare feat. Hard to answer questions like those when the game just ended, and I’m processing a lot. So maybe I have a better answer for you tomorrow, but I’m proud of myself for the work that I’ve been doing over the course of the year, really.
“Just processing a lot about that game because another really scrappy win by us, but, yeah, I’m proud of the work that I’ve put in this year, for sure.”
After hitting the single and acknowledging the crowd, Crow-Armstrong shared a moment with first-base coach José Javier, who let him know about Bernardino’s snap-pick play. The celebratory scene was brief. Before Bernardino threw a pitch to Alex Bregman, he immediately used that pickoff move to nab Crow-Armstrong.
“It’s really easy to highlight the stuff that you’re not so happy about and that you’ve got to make sure never happens again,” Crow-Armstrong said. “I absolutely put up great at-bats tonight, and I’m proud of the work that I’ve done and the production that I’ve helped have over the last few weeks. But you saw tonight, the game’s not over till it’s over.
“I did everything I could to help the team, but I also had a real lapse in focus and that really could have hurt us tonight — I’m not going to dwell on that. It’s something so simple as someone gets in your ear and says that can’t ever happen again, and it never happens again.”
Manager Craig Counsell didn’t have the cycle in mind after Crow-Armstrong collected the hardest two parts in his first two at-bats. And when it did happen in the seventh, followed by the pickoff, “my excitement was a little short-lived, truthfully,” Counsell said wryly.
Andre Dawson in 1987 was the last Cub to record a cycle within his first four plate appearances, per Elias Sports Bureau. At 24 years, 82 days, Crow-Armstrong is the youngest Cub to hit for a cycle since Randy Hundley (24 years, 71 days) in 1966. He’s also the first Cub to hit for the cycle with a leadoff home run since Ivan DeJesus in 1980.
More Top Picks Best Digital Alarm Clocks With Dimmable Display
Crow-Armstrong’s sacrifice fly in the eighth cut the Rockies lead to 4-3, and he was close to making more history. The ball right fielder Tyler Freeman made a sliding catch on had a .350 expected average. Had it fallen, Crow-Armstrong would have been the first Cub to have five hits in a game with a cycle, per Hartig.
Since Wrigley Field opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park, this was the Cubs’ eighth cycle at home.
Kelly last year became the first Cub to hit for the cycle since Mark Grace on May 9, 1993, ending the longest drought by a National League team. The Kansas City Royals (George Brett in 1990) have gone longer without one. Cubs hitters fell one hit short 342 times during their drought.
“The triple was a little bit easier for him than for me, but all in all just really cool to see him do it,” Kelly said. “It only lasted a year, but nobody’s counting, right?”
Left-hander Shota Imanaga’s effectiveness helped position the Cubs for the win. He held the Rockies to one run, five hits and one walk and struck out three on 85 pitches.
Counsell opted for reliever Phil Maton in the sixth with two on, two outs and right-handed-hitting Ezequiel Tovar up. Maton proceeded to hit lefty pinch hitter Troy Johnston with two strikes, then walked Cole Carrigg with the bases loaded to tie the game. Maton escaped the bases-loaded jam without further damage.
Counsell admitted postgame that yanking Imanaga might not have been the right move.
“I’m kicking myself a little for taking him out, frankly,” Counsell said. “I’ll probably think about that one a little bit tonight, but it happened and they took some good at-bats against Phil.”
Imanaga didn’t go against Counsell’s decision.
“The thing for me: For every decision a manager makes, I think it’s the correct decision, and I think in that moment that was the correct decision,” Imanaga said through interpreter Edwin Stanberry. “Moving forward for me, when those tough situations arise, complete the inning, finish the inning and maybe I can get out for the next one.”
The Wrigley crowd was on its feet for the duration of Crow-Armstrong’s at-bat in the seventh. On the third pitch, he pulled Bernardino’s sinker into shallow right for an easy single.
Bernardino’s pickoff of Crow-Armstrong cost the Cubs a run with how the rest of the seventh played out. Bregman singled, and Michael Busch and Seiya Suzuki followed with walks to load the bases. Instead of the three consecutive baserunners resulting in Crow-Armstrong scoring, Ian Happ and Nico Hoerner struck out to leave the bases loaded as the Cubs failed to bring home a run.
That proved costly as the Cubs’ slim 2-1 lead vanished the next inning when Carrigg slugged a go-ahead, three-run home run off reliever Caleb Thielbar.
On the verge of another bad loss, the Cubs fought back in the bottom of the ninth.
The first three batters reached, aided by a Rockies throwing error, to load the bases with nobody out. Colorado swapped reliever Juan Mejia for Seth Halvorsen with Pedro Ramírez, Matt Shaw and Kelly due up.
Ramírez worked a great at-bat, getting to a 3-1 count before going the opposite way for a game-tying RBI single. Shaw, too, didn’t try to do too much, getting into the same count and laying off Halvorsen’s outside fastball for the walk-off walk.
Shaw also recorded an RBI triple in the sixth to put the Cubs back ahead after the Rockies tied it in the top of the inning.
“I think any player, at one time or another, gets caught up in performance, trying their best to perform,” Shaw said. “But I just have the perspective now of it’s not really about necessarily performance. It’s about enjoying the game because opportunities aren’t always there, but being able to play and play the game I love, regardless of what the situation looks like, is enjoyable.”