CINCINNATI — Pete Crow-Armstrong knows other teams are aware of his hitting tendency.
He likes to swing the bat, and where the ball is — or isn’t — in the zone doesn’t tend to matter. The Chicago Cubs’ 23-year-old center fielder has proved he’s capable of making contact and doing damage in all types of situations. Even when he might be looking for a different pitch than the one thrown.
Crow-Armstrong geared up for Cincinnati Reds right-hander Tony Santillan to attack him with a first-pitch fastball with the bases loaded in the seventh inning Friday as the Cubs trailed by two runs. Instead, the two-pitch-mix reliever went to his slider, one that hung down the middle of the plate. Crow-Armstrong didn’t miss and pulled the pitch down the line, but it wasn’t immediately clear if he stayed back on it enough to keep the ball fair.
He stood in the batter’s box and leaned back watching the ball’s flight. When the ball dinged off the right-field foul pole, a euphoric Crow-Armstrong tossed his bat toward the Cubs dugout and pounded his chest before rounding the bases to celebrate the grand slam and second home run of the game.
His slam, the first of his career, gave the Cubs a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. The Cubs went on to score 11 unanswered runs over the final three innings en route to a 13-6 win over the Reds. Seiya Suzuki (three-run home run) and Dansby Swanson (two-run blast) provided important insurance runs in the eighth and ninth innings.
“There’s a lot of times in baseball where sometimes you don’t even know what pitch was thrown, just because stuff syncs up and that was that,” Crow-Armstrong said of the grand slam. “I was just ready for heater. I don’t think that the slider was really in my mind or anything like that. It was just up enough.
“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 cherish those.”
The grand-slam ball had a kiss-the-stars trajectory as it skied toward the foul pole, its 43-degree launch angle making it just the 10th to go at least that high for a Cubs home run in the Statcast era (since 2015) and the first in nearly five years. Off the bat, the Cubs experienced varying anticipation whether the ball would stay inside the foul pole. Crow-Armstrong thought it was heading foul, noting, “I’m glad we didn’t have any Wrigley wind.”
“I actually thought it was way fair,” manager Craig Counsell said. “So when it kept curving I was getting a little nervous.”
Added Swanson: “I was shocked it stayed fair. That’s what happens when you’ve got a good swing, the bat stays in the zone for a long time and obviously gives you a lot of margin for error. He hit it good, glad he’s on our team.”
Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong hits a grand slam during the seventh inning against the Reds at Great American Ball Park on May 23, 2025, in Cincinnati. (Jeff Dean/Getty Images)
The Cubs (31-20) have won eight of the last 10 games. With their 13 runs Friday, they recorded their MLB-best 11th game with 10-plus runs, the franchise’s most through the first 51 games of a season since 1898, according to Elias Sports Bureau.
Crow-Armstrong was part of rare company following his performance against the Reds.
- He became just the third major-leaguer since RBIs became an official stat in 1920 with at least 14 home runs, 14 stolen bases and 45 RBIs through his team’s first 51 games, joining the Reds’ Eric Davis (1987) and St. Louis Browns’ Ken Williams (1922).
- His 14 home runs have come in his last 34 games, making Crow-Armstrong just the third Cubs hitter since 1901 to record at least 14 across any 34-game single-season span, joining Sammy Sosa (twice, latter in 2002) and Hank Sauer (twice, latter in 1954).
- His two games with at least six RBIs ties the Cubs’ single-season record, last done by Kris Bryant in 2016, according to ESPN Stats & Info. Only two other National League players 23 or younger — Wilmer Flores (2014) and Mel Ott (1930) — have recorded multiple games of six or more RBIs in a season, both of whom had two.
“There’s no question that Pete’s doing some things very uniquely right now and he does some things that other guys can’t do, and that’s so much fun to watch,” Counsell said. “That’s why you hear people chant his name all the time, and the fans see that too. So we’re lucky to be able to watch something like this.”
Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong watches hit grand slam off the right-field foul pole during the seventh inning against the Reds on May 23, 2025, in Cincinnati. (Carolyn Kaster/AP)
Crow-Armstrong’s big swing adds to the budding lore of his rocketing stardom and magical first two months of the season. But little moments leading up to his grand slam helped set the stage.
Left-hander Matthew Boyd recovered from a 34-pitch first inning that saw him work out of a bases-loaded jam with nobody out and the Reds already up 3-0. He went on to pitch three more innings, holding the hosts to one run in that span, to give the Cubs offense a chance to chip away, which started with Crow-Armstrong’s two-run home run in the fourth to cut the deficit in half.
“You start to have the conversation of, ‘Do we have to get somebody up?’” Counsell said. “But a credit to Matt, you trust him in those situations to continue to make pitches. … It just wasn’t going his way, but that’s when you’ve got to keep making pitches, and that’s when pitches made in the first inning affect the outcome of the game.”
The Cubs grinded against Reds starter Hunter Greene in the right-hander’s return from the injured list, forcing him to throw 37 pitches in the fourth — featuring two walks and a 12-pitch at-bat that ended in a pop out from Nico Hoerner — to cap his night after the frame.
Hoerner’s awareness running to second and his ability to successfully dodge Reds second baseman Matt McLain’s tag attempt on Matt Shaw’s ground ball gave the Cubs two on with one out in the seventh. Three consecutive singles followed from Ian Happ, Kyle Tucker and Suzuki, bringing Crow-Armstrong to the plate for his heroics.
“It didn’t feel like a huge deal at the time, but it set up the opportunity for runs in that inning and we had some amazing at-bats to make that possible,” Hoerner said. “You can’t guarantee comebacks, but you give them a good chance when you get extra outs and guys on base for especially our power guys in the middle of lineup, and they came through.”
Nearly one-third of the way through the season, the Cubs’ propensity for big innings, especially late in games, is a continuing theme. For as bleak as a game might be trending, as they experienced just one inning into Friday’s, the offense has a knack for a reliability that has proved they often aren’t truly out of it.
Friday marked the third time the Cubs have scored at least 10 runs from the seventh inning and later in a game this year. They have done that three times in a season just twice in franchise history, in 1883 and 2023, per team historian Ed Hartig.
“It’s just so professional and competitive, the willingness to just go and take good at-bats, regardless of the score or who’s pitching or no matter what’s going on,” Swanson said. “The guys are taking such great at-bats, and even when we’re up or when we’re down, it doesn’t really matter. Guys are going up there looking to have a productive at-bat, and that’s rare. It’s really, really challenging mentally.
“It’s just a standard, this what we’re about as an offense and guys are willing to obviously buy into it, and it’s just really fun to be a part of with guys that are about something bigger than themselves.”
Originally Published: May 24, 2025 at 12:10 AM CDT
