City Series: PCA walks off a historic night as Cubs beat Sox in 10 innings

Hours before first pitch Monday afternoon in a nearly empty Wrigley Field, Pete Crow-Armstrong started swinging off a tee at home plate.

He typically doesn’t hit on the field. The Cubs’ All-Star center fielder prefers a more controlled setting in the batting cage where he can go through his progressions and hone a perfect swing.

At one point during his on-field work, Crow-Armstrong started hitting front flips from assistant hitting coach John Mallee just to watch the ball’s flight. It didn’t exactly have its intended effect.

“I was frustrated for most of it,” Crow-Armstrong said later.

There haven’t been many stretches this season when the Cubs’ National League MVP contender looked a little out of whack at the plate. But he entered Monday’s opener of the City Series against the White Sox hitting .128 with a .227 on-base percentage in his last nine games, including a 1-for-20 stretch with seven strikeouts.

Conversations over the last few days centered on perspective — that really he was just having a week of “not so good stuff,” which on Monday changed to a different mindset.

“Man, it’s pedal to the metal, like, have some conviction in the swings that you’re taking,” Crow-Armstrong said. “Don’t be afraid to swing and miss. Simple as that, really.”

Crow-Armstrong didn’t miss much at the plate during a memorable, electric performance. He slugged Sox starter Luis Castillo’s first pitch for a home run down the right-field line, and to cap a four-hit night, he turned on lefty Hagen Smith’s slider for a walk-off, two-run home run in the 10th to give the Cubs a 7-5 victory.

Crow-Armstrong became the first player with a leadoff home run on the first pitch his team saw and a walk-off home run on the last pitch his team saw since the Kansas City Athletics’ Vic Power on May 7, 1957, according to OptaSTATS.

“I swung a lot today, like, I went up there and I didn’t want to waste any chances,” Crow-Armstrong said after his first career walk-off home run. “Luis Castillo knows how to throw the baseball, so if I wasn’t feeling as convicted as I was, he would have eaten my lunch. And they’ve got some good arms, so any of those guys probably could have.

“I’ve got to do a better job of keeping in mind that a week feels longer than it really is, and we’re still sitting almost 20 games above .500 and the world is still spinning.”

The home runs gave Crow-Armstrong a 30-homer, 30-steal season to put him among the greatest multi-tool players in big-league history. He’s the first Cub with back-to-back 30-30 seasons, with only Sammy Sosa (2003 and 2005) recording more than one. In major-league history, Crow-Armstrong became the 10th player to accomplish the 30-30 feat during consecutive years.

“It’s been incredible to watch,” manager Craig Counsell said. “I don’t think Pete was too happy with his performance this weekend, and you know when he’s not happy about his performance. But to do what he did tonight on the heels of that is just incredible. This might be his best game in the big leagues right here. It was an amazing game.”

Crow-Armstrong’s historic accomplishment extends beyond the Cubs, as he became the third player in MLB history with multiple 30-30 seasons at 24 or younger and just the second to do it in back-to-back years, joining the Kansas City Royals’ Bobby Witt Jr.

Crow-Armstrong’s performance Monday — featuring two home runs, a double, a single, a walk, a strikeout, a stolen base, two runs scored and three RBIs — added 0.5 fWAR to his season total. Twelve qualified MLB hitters have produced a lower total fWAR this season, including the Los Angeles Dodgers’ big offseason signing, former Cub Kyle Tucker (0.4).

“With Pete, we’ve always kind of gone through a little bit of a wave at times — when it’s hot, it’s crazy, crazy hot — and this year he’s done such a really good job of not letting the lows get too low,” hitting coach Dustin Kelly told the Tribune of the recent slump. “But we have seen maybe a little bit more chase, and that happens. As things start to intensify and there’s more and more talk — I think the MVP stuff is real, I don’t think there’s any denying that — and I don’t think he’s putting more pressure on himself, but there’s just like a sense of it.

“Pitchers are definitely not willing to make mistakes with him, and obviously his zone is so big in the sense of where he can do damage.”

Despite first base being open and the winning run on second to begin the bottom of the 10th, Sox manager Will Venable opted for the rookie Smith and the left-on-left matchup against Crow-Armstrong rather than intentionally walking him and having a right-hander face Seiya Suzuki, who went back-to-back with Crow-Armstrong in the first inning.

“He’s good at everything, covers all the plate,” Smith said. “He’s pretty aggressive.”

Alex Bregman helped set up Crow-Armstrong’s walk-off heroics with three hits plus a walk in the bottom of the ninth, when Bregman came around to tie the game on Nico Hoerner’s single to center — part of the shortstop’s four-hit performance.

One of left-hander Shota Imanaga’s best starts (six innings, two hits, including a three-run home run, and 10 strikeouts) gave the Cubs offense a chance. Veteran right-hander Jacob Webb tossed a scoreless top of the 10th to extend his scoreless-appearance streak to 22 games, the longest current streak in the majors.

The “P-C-A” chants from the Cubs fans among the split crowd of 40,354 started before Crow-Armstrong even came out of the dugout to lead off the 10th. That mantra has become the anticipatory soundtrack to Crow-Armstrong’s greatest moments as a Cub.

“With conviction maybe comes some peace and calm,” Crow-Armstrong said. “When you’re playing offense in the batter’s box, I think that is pretty calming. I was really just trying to go out there and play offense today, not worry about punching, not worry about swinging and missing, not worrying about swinging at some (stuff) that bounces five feet in front of me.

“I was going to go out there and put good swings on the baseball today, no matter what, ball or strike.”