BALTIMORE — Pete Crow-Armstrong hit two of Chicago’s five home runs and the Chicago Cubs outslugged the Baltimore Orioles 9-7 on Wednesday night at Camden Yards. The center fielder became the first player in Major League Baseball this season to reach the 20-homer, 20-stolen base milestone. With his performance, Crow-Armstrong joined Ryne Sandberg (1990-91) and Sammy Sosa (1993-95) as the only Cubs players in history to achieve 20-20 campaigns in consecutive seasons. Only Sosa and Crow-Armstrong have accomplished the feat in back-to-back years.
Offensive Fireworks at Camden Yards
The Cubs’ offensive outburst featured five home runs. Michael Conforto and Carson Kelly went deep on the first two pitches of the fifth inning, tying the game immediately after Pete Alonso’s two-run shot had given Baltimore a 3-1 lead. Chicago later scored five runs in the seventh, including a three-run homer by Seiya Suzuki, his 14th of the season. For the Orioles, Tyler O’Neill homered twice, and Coby Mayo added a 420-foot home run into the second deck in left field in the eighth inning.
Record-Breaking Pace for Crow-Armstrong
Crow-Armstrong’s historic night began in the third inning when his first home run off Orioles right-hander Dean Kremer cleared the right-field wall, giving him 21 homers and 23 stolen bases on the year. By reaching the mark in his 92nd game, he recorded the two fastest runs to 20-20 in Cubs history, beating his own previous mark of 96 games set by Sammy Sosa in 1994. Crow-Armstrong is the first Major League player with at least 20 homers and 20 steals before the All-Star break in consecutive years since Alfonso Soriano did so with the Yankees in 2002-03.
Mastering the Splitter Under Pressure
The center fielder’s success against Kremer was particularly notable, as he connected on two splitters. Entering the game, Kremer had limited batters to a 2-for-27 showing with his splitter and had not yielded a home run on the pitch since August 23 of last season. Crow-Armstrong became just the fourth batter in the Statcast Era (since 2015) to go deep twice off splitters in the same game, a feat last accomplished by Manny Machado on September 21, 2021, against Kevin Gausman. Of his second home run, which had a 106.7 mph exit velocity, Crow-Armstrong said, “That was a tough pitch for me to kind of time up. He had gotten me on it three times before that, and twice in that at-bat. It’s just being willing to let the fastball really travel and give myself the best chance to put a barrel on that split.”
Cubs manager Craig Counsell praised the young star’s development, stating, It’s still a very young career. But he’s doing things that the greats in the game have done. They are small-timeframe accomplishments, but still great. And then, just the improvement that we’ve seen is so exciting for Cubs fans. Regarding his reaction to the historic milestones, Crow-Armstrong replied: “I don’t. I’ve got a lot more baseball to play.” Concerning his ability to adjust mid-at-bat, Counsell noted, [Everyone in] the dugout, on the first home run, is kind of shaking their head in amazement at how he’s able to get to that pitch.
While the Orioles’ Jackson Holliday recorded four hits, leadoff man Gunnar Henderson went 0-for-5. Henderson hit into two double plays, and his sharp line drive in the eighth inning was neutralized by a diving catch from shortstop Dansby Swanson. Colin Rea earned the win for Chicago, allowing three runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings, while Jacob Webb pitched a perfect ninth for his fourth save. The teams will conclude the series Thursday at 1:35 p.m. ET, with David Peterson slated to face Trevor Rogers.
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