Pete Crow-Armstrong hits leadoff homer vs. Reds

CHICAGO — After connecting with the baseball and watching its flight for a brief moment, Pete Crow-Armstrong turned and let his bat fall away from his hands. It was as if the piece of lumber was simply too hot for the Cubs star to handle. That sure seems to be the case right now.

Crow-Armstrong put a charge into a 98.9 mph fastball from Reds flamethrower Chase Burns, launching it out to right field with a 108 mph exit velocity, per Statcast. The home run was the ninth leadoff homer of the season for Crow-Armstrong, who trails only Alfonso Soriano (12 in 2007) for the most such shots in a season in Cubs history.

Crow-Armstrong also became the second Cub to hit five homers in a two-game span this season, after Dansby Swanson did it June 30-July 1. Prior to that, though, the last two times a Cub accomplished the feat were in 1979 (Dave Kingman) and 1968 (Billy Williams).

Six of Crow-Armstrong’s leadoff homers have come this month, making this one of the more prolific power displays out of the first spot of a lineup in baseball history. Kyle Schwarber (June of ’21) and Soriano (September of ’07) share the MLB record with seven leadoff homers in a single month, per MLB.com’s Sarah Langs.

In the ninth inning, Crow-Armstrong added another blast – this one a two-out solo shot off Reds closer Emilion Pagán. That kept the Cubs’ hopes of a comeback alive for a moment, but Seiya Suzuki flew out to end a 7-5 loss to Cincinnati.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Crow-Armstrong is also the fourth player in MLB history with a leadoff homer one game after a three-homer showing. Schwarber (Sept. 4, 2024), Brian Dozier (Sept. 6, 2016) and Mookie Betts (June 1, 2016) are also on that niche list. Earlier this month, Crow-Armstrong led off with a homer (Aug. 18) one game after homering on the first and last pitch of a win over the White Sox.

Crow-Armstrong now has 38 home runs this season, which puts him closer to a mark not seen on the North Side in a long time. Only once in Cubs history has a left-handed hitter reached 40 blasts in one campaign. That was Sweet Swingin’ Billy Wiliams, who had 42 homers in 1970. That is another part of the team record book that Crow-Armstrong has a chance to rewrite.

Crow-Armstrong’s 31 home runs since the start of June are six more than any other Major Leaguer in that span.

At the moment, Crow-Armstrong also has 32 stolen bases to go with his home runs. He has a real shot at a 40-40 performance this season, which has only been done six times in MLB history (most recently by Shohei Ohtani in 2024). The Cubs center fielder is already the only player to go 30-30 in back-to-back seasons in franchise history, and joined Sosa (1993 and ‘95) as the only players in team annals to have two such tours.