Detroit Tigers at Chicago Cubs

Pete Crow-Armstrong pulled a pitch from Tigers lefty Framber Valdez deep into the right-field corner to lead off the first inning on Tuesday, and then both the Cubs’ center fielder and the North Siders were off and running. Crow-Armstrong legged out a triple, igniting a six-run first inning that set the tone for an 11-2 romp over the Tigers at Wrigley Field. It was a furious opening frame that allowed Cubs lefty David Peterson to settle into a rhythm to guide the North Siders to their fifth win in seven games. “We just did a wonderful job,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “The team approach was really good tonight, offensively.” Here were three keys to the Cubs’ win over Detroit: **1\. Chasing Valdez in first** With a strong wind blowing in at the Friendly Confines, the best path to scoring runs on Tuesday was going to be stringing multiple hits together. Chicago’s lineup was up to the task in a 10-batter, 42-pitch attack against Valdez. Including Crow-Armstrong’s triple to light the spark, the first seven hitters reached base for the North Siders in the opening frame. That included four consecutive singles from Carson Kelly (two RBIs), Michael Busch (one RBI), Nico Hoerner and Ian Happ (one RBI) after Valdez walked Seiya Suzuki and hit Alex Bregman with a pitch to load the bases. Crow-Armstrong ended Valdez’s evening with a bases-loaded walk that pushed the Cubs to a 5-0 lead. Tigers reliever Ty Madden took over and also issued a walk with the bags full (Suzuki) before finally escaping the inning. “Maybe we caught a couple breaks,” Counsell said. “But we made it hard on him and had really good at-bats. It was a move-the-line type of inning that we did a really good job on. If you get a starter like that out in the first inning, you collectively -- and team-wide -- had a really good approach.” **2\. Conforto’s pinch-hitting power** When the Tigers handed the ball to righty Brenan Hanifee in the fifth inning, it was a chance for Cubs manager Craig Counsell to call veteran Michael Conforto off the bench. Conforto has been an offensive weapon as a pinch-hitter, and that held true once again. Conforto drilled a 1-0 changeup from Hanifee out to right field -- through a strong wind that had been toying with fly balls all evening -- and into the bleacher seats for a two-run shot that padded Chicago’s lead. The blast was Conforto’s ninth of the season overall, but fourth in pinch-hit chances. In fact, Conforto’s four pinch-hit home runs not only lead the Majors