Pete Crow-Armstrong is fastest in franchise history to 20-20, but Cubs rally falls short in 8-7 loss to Brewers

Meghan Montemurro, Chicago Tribune on Jun 19, 2025

Published in Baseball

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CHICAGO — Pete Crow-Armstrong’s incredible season has landed him a Chicago Cubs record.

With his two-run home run in the first inning against the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday, Crow-Armstrong became the fastest player in franchise history to 20 home runs and 20 steals in a season, reaching the mark in his 73rd game of the year. The Cubs record had been held by Sammy Sosa, who achieved the feat in his 96th game of the 1994 season.

“It’s an honor to be able to do that,” Crow-Armstrong said. “There’s not many places that give you an ovation during the game when you’re walking out to defense, so that always feels very, very special.”

Armstrong turned on Brewers right-hander Freddy Peralta’s 96.3-mph fastball above the zone, sending it 377 feet into the right-field bleachers for his 20th home run to briefly give the Cubs a one-run lead. The 23-year-old center fielder homered in his second straight game, the third time this season he has gone deep in back-to-back games.

“Let’s keep it going,” manager Craig Counsell said. “He’s having a great season. Those are nice round numbers, but let’s make them crooked again.”

Crow-Armstrong stood on deck as Seiya Suzuki grounded into a game-ending double play to end the Cubs’ late rally in an 8-7 loss. The Cubs (45-29) trailed the Brewers 8-3 through six innings but managed to give themselves a shot in the ninth by scoring twice in each the seventh and eighth innings. But after Ian Happ took a leadoff walk against right-hander Trevor Megill to put the tying run on, Kyle Tucker struck out swinging and Suzuki hit into the double play.

Counsell said they debated in the dugout whether to have Happ attempt to steal second base to avoid a potential double play.

“If (Suzuki) hits a ground-ball, you wish he would have went, if he strikes out and they throw him out, then Pete’s not hitting so it was a close one,” Counsell said. “Megill is definitely a strikeout pitcher. He’s not really a ground-ball pitcher. And Seiya, unfortunately, hit a hard ground-ball right at them.”

Only three players in major-league history have recorded 20 home runs and 20 steals more quickly than Crow-Armstrong, according to Elias Sports Bureau: the Cincinnati Reds’ Eric Davis (46 games in 1987), Oakland Athletics’ José Canseco (68 games in 1998) and San Diego Padres’ Fernando Tatís Jr. (71 games in 2021). Like Crow-Armstrong, the St. Louis Browns’ Ken Williams (1922) achieved the milestone in 73 games.

Crow-Armstrong didn’t hit his first home run until April 13th in the Cubs’ 18th game, giving him 20 homers in a 56-game stretch over 231 plate appearances. Entering Thursday, he had a .292/.320/.639 slash line and .959 OPS in that span.

“He’s a special talent, and it’s one thing to have a special talent, it’s another to go out there and do it,” said Dansby Swanson, who collected two hits including a solo homer in the loss. “And that’s just been such a really cool thing to be able to play with a guy that’s electric in every way, shape or form, and just the consistency that he’s been doing it is also just as impressive.”

Right-hander Jameson Taillon came into Thursday’s series finale on a roll with six consecutive quality starts and a 2.31 ERA in that stretch. He struggled to get ahead of hitters consistently and got burned on two home runs in the third inning. Taillon ultimately surrendered eight hits and five runs in four innings.

Right-hander Chris Flexen tossed three shutout innings and left-hander Drew Pomeranz held the Brewers scoreless in the ninth to continue both pitchers’ stellar starts to the year in which neither has allowed an earned run in a combined 40 2/3 innings.

Taillon’s 18 home runs allowed are tied for second most in the majors. As a fly-ball pitcher, he has been prone to giving up homers during his career, but the ones allowed with runners on base tend to be the most frustrating. As much as Taillon prefers focusing on his strengths, going forward when scouting opposing teams, he anticipates needing to be more aware of hitters’ damage zones so he can better avoid them.

“Being up there in the top couple in the league in homers is never something you want to be known for, so yeah, it needs to get better,” Taillon said. “Just aside from homers, that’s a result thing, I think there’s some things I need to be better at.

“I put us in a hole there and again, a testament to the guys on offense and the bullpen, just to keep us in there. … To keep fighting and putting up at-bats, we were a swing away there at the end, which is pretty cool. We’ve come through in a lot of those situations so it’s a cool feeling as a pitcher just to know you can have a bad day and still your team can fight and be in it.”

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