Milwaukee Brewers at Chicago Cubs

CHICAGO – As more and more fans inside Wrigley Field looked to the video board beyond the left-field bleachers, the decibel level began to slowly climb. And when the camera panned to Pete Crow-Armstrong, waving to a few of his friends sitting in the first row behind the Cubs’ dugout, things revved up even more in the old ballpark. Crow-Armstrong smiled as Bears quarterback Caleb Williams, along with Bulls players Matas Buzelis and Caleb Wilson, pounded on the dugout’s roof. Wilson stood and started to get a “P-C-A!” chant going. Their time in the spotlight will arrive soon enough, but these stars were here to witness one of the most exciting shows in baseball. “They pulled up,” Crow-Armstrong said. "It was awesome having them here. I felt the energy from the crowd when they got put on the board." Pete’s fan club had a pretty great view of his latest heroic for the Cubs in a 2-1 victory over the rival Brewers at the Friendly Confines. The star center fielder continued his push for the National League MVP trophy with another home run – an improbable two-run shot off a great changeup from Brewers righty Logan Henderson. Crow-Armstrong – fresh off winning the NL Player of the Month award for the second time this year – now has 39 home runs on the season. That puts him one shy of joining Sweet Swingin’ Billy Williams as the only left-handed hitters in Cubs history to belt at least 40 in a season. The Hall of Famer had 42 for the North Siders in 1970. Cubs manager Craig Counsell was asked if he was running out of ways to describe what Crow-Armstrong is doing this season. “You guys are the wordsmiths,” quipped the manager. “We should really enjoy a player having this season. These are seasons you remember from individuals. You see things like this, you see a great player playing at his peak, you should really soak this in, because these are the fun things to talk about as the years go by. That’s what kind of season this is.” For his latest feat, Crow-Armstrong homered on a pitch he had no business hitting out. Entering Thursday, Henderson had limited batters to a .167 average and .367 slugging percentage with his changeup, which generated a 36.5% whiff rate. The five homers off the pitch were on changeups in the strike zone. This 2-1 change in the third dove well under the zone, and Crow-Armstrong got to it anyway.