Cycling up: PCA hits new heights, Cubs rally in 9th to beat Colorado
The Cubs returned to Wrigley Field on Monday with the same, familiar plan in mind: Create some offense and build momentum.
Easier said than done.
Pete Crow-Armstrong did his part, hitting for the cycle in his first four at-bats. But the Cubs needed some good fortune in the ninth inning to pull out a 5-4 victory over Colorado on Monday.
Trailing 4-3 heading into the ninth, Seiya Suzuki walked, then Ian Happ hit a nubber in front of the plate. Rockies pitcher Juan Mejia aimed for second base, but threw the ball into center field for an error. Another walk to Nico Hoerner loaded the bases and Colorado changed pitchers.
Pedro Ramirez stepped up next and delivered a tying RBI single to right field. Then Matt Shaw walked to drive in the winning run.
One of the lowest moments for Cubs hitters happened last week in Denver, when they managed just 2 hits over 5 innings against Rockies right-hander Michael Lorenzen, who sports a 7.13 ERA this season. They faced Lorenzen again Monday and got plenty of hits. Not so many runs, though.
It was a perfect reverse cycle for PCA. He homered leading off the first, tripled off the wall in the third, doubled to right in the fifth and singled in the seventh. The lowest exit velocity of those four hits was 98.3 miles per hour on the triple.
The last cycle by a Cub was Carson Kelly last year in Sacramento. The most recent cycle by a Cubs left-handed hitter was Mark Grace in 1993.
But the missed opportunities were maddening. Crow-Armstrong's triple led off the inning, while the double came with one out, and the Cubs couldn't drive him home either time. Then after completing the cycle in the seventh, Crow-Armstrong was picked off first base as fans were giving him a standing ovation.
“I know (the cycle) is a rare feat. Maybe I'll have a better answer for you tomorrow (on what it means),” Crow-Armstrong said after the game. “I absolutely put up great at-bats tonight and I'm proud of the production I've helped have over the past few weeks. But you saw it 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 never happen again,' and it never happens again.”
That Cubs seventh went single, single, walk, walk, strikeout, strikeout. With the pickoff, it meant no runs were scored as both Happ and Hoerner struck out with the bases loaded.
Since their downturn began on May 9, the Cubs have hit .215, which ranks 29th in MLB. They're also 29th in OPS (.650) during that time frame.
The good news? The one team that's been worse is San Diego, which started Monday as the No. 6 playoff seed in the National League. The Cubs were just 1 game behind, and we're still roughly 10 days from the midway point of the season.
Here's the most obvious problem: The Cubs thought they could stabilize a lineup of streaky hitters by leaning on a couple of reliable contact hitters. Hoerner was hitting .300 on May 5. Moises Ballesteros was at.387 on April 27.
Over the past month, Hoerner and Ballesteros haven't been the worst Cubs hitters — that distinction goes to Dansby Swanson — but they've been the second- and third-worst.
Ballesteros is a young player and pitchers were bound to find a weak spot eventually. He hasn't answered back, hitting just .146 since May 1.
Hoerner is harder to figure out. Some have pointed to when he got beaned in the helmet by a pitch on April 29 in San Diego, and the theory adds up. He was hitting .297 on that date, and has been at .197 since.
The Cubs got a solid start from Shota Imanaga on Monday. He cruised though 5 innings, then put two runners on with two outs in the sixth and left the mound after 85 pitches. Phil Maton came in from the bullpen, hit a batter and walked in the tying run. the Rockies took the lead on a 3-run homer by Cole Carri
There were a couple of pitcher injury updates before the game. Matthew Boyd is planning to throw a bullpen Tuesday.
Then Justin Steele has returned to Chicago to continue his rehab. Everything was going well in his comeback from Tommy John surgery, then he felt some soreness and took six weeks off.
“Steele is going to be with us for the next three-ish weeks,” Counsell said. “He's got one more week in the plyo ball section and then he'll start throwing next Monday. Then he's got a couple weeks of throwing program with us before we go to the next steps.”