Pete Crow-Armstrong received the ball from his 30th home run Friday from a bleacher fan who told him he hadn’t been to a game in about 30 years.
Thirty proved to be the magic number Friday in the Chicago Cubs’ 12-1 drubbing of the St. Louis Cardinals at Wrigley Field.
Crow-Armstrong became the first Cubs player with 30 doubles, 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases in the same season and joined Sammy Sosa as the only members of the team’s 30-30 club. Seiya Suzuki later added his 30th home run, joining Hidekia Matsui and Shohei Ohtani as the only Japanese players to reach the milestone. They also are the only three players from Japan to drive in 100 runs, a mark Suzuki passed with his seventh-inning grand slam, reaching 101 RBIs.
Suzuki, Crow-Armstrong and Michael Busch, who hit his 32nd home run, are also the first trio of Cubs to reach 30 or more home runs since 2004, when Sosa, Moises Alou, Aramis Ramirez and Derrek Lee accomplished the feat.
The combo of Crow-Armstrong and Suzuki helped fuel the Cubs in the first half, when they both one-upped each other frequently by homering soon after the other went yard. Then both mysteriously slumped together for much of the second half, taking the Cubs offense with them.
Manager Craig Counsell hopes Friday is the start of the return of the PCA-Suzuki tag team, just in time for the postseason.
“The milestones are great for both of those guys,” Counsell said. “Back to homering on the same day, (let’s) try to continue that again. Happy for both those guys.”
The Cubs lowered their magic number for clinching the top National League wild-card spot to one, pending the San Diego Padres’ late game Friday night. The top wild-card team will host the best-of-three series beginning Tuesday.
What does being in the 30-30 club mean to Crow-Armstrong?
“It just means I’ve improved over the last few years,” he said. “That’s what I’m selifishly most proud of in my own development, seeing a bit of progression each year that I’ve been playing pro ball. It’s a nice culmination of some years, and many more to come.”
Crow-Armstrong received a standing ovation from the crowd of 35,611 at Wrigley, and a graphic on the video board showed off his accomplishment. At the All-Star break it looked as if he could get to 40-40, but that doesn’t make the feat any less special.
“Every season has ups and downs,” Counsell said. “You expect that in 162 games. It can’t be one straight line. Pete has had a great season, a great offensive season. How it happens is how it happens.”
Ditto with Suzukl, who has three home runs in his last two games after going homerless in his previous 38 since Aug. 9. Suzuki had one word to describe being on the same list of Japanese legends Matsui and Ohtani.
“Scary,” he said with a grin.
The Cubs offense can be scary when everyone is clicking like it was Friday. Heading into the day they were seventh in the majors with a .772 OPS in 13 games over the previous 14 days, slowly emerging from their second-half malaise. Friday’s 12-hit, four-home-run attack was another sign that the offense is getting it together again.
Now they’ll need Kyle Tucker to get back to his old self. Tucker reached base twice with a single and a walk in five plate appearances in his return to the lineup from a calf injury that sidelined him for three weeks.
“Overall a pretty good day,” he said. “Mentally I was still where I was before (the injury), so all the at-bats felt pretty good.”
Tucker didn’t have to test the left calf much. He was on base when Crow-Armstrong and Suzuki homered.
“Just walk around then,” he said. “That was nice. If they could keep doing that a lot more, that would be great.”
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