Cubs Star Pete Crow-Armstrong Homers, Taunts 'Tarps Off' Fans in Rout of Cards

· Yahoo Sports

Cardinals’ manager Oli Marmol discusses his team’s pitching troubles on a night when Cubs star Pete Crow-Armstrong had four hits and a towering, 444-foot homer.

ST. LOUIS – The “Tarps Off” crew has breathed an undeniable energy into the Busch Stadium atmosphere over the last three weeks while filling the air with constant and boisterous noise and twirling T-shirts.

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On Saturday night, that group of energetic fans in the right field bleachers just might have inspired a rival more than the homestanding Cardinals for a change.

As the bare-chested, shirt-waving fans were repeatedly chanting “overrated” in the direction of Pete Crow-Armstrong, the Cubs’ flashy center fielder made them regret those taunts with a towering shot that landed in the “Tarps Off” bleacher section well beyond the right field wall.

Crow-Armstrong hammered out four hits and followed his mammoth, 444-foot homer in the eighth inning -- one that came on the hardest-hit ball of his career -- with some playful taunts of his own as the Cubs defeated the Cardinals 6-1 at Busch Stadium.

A rivalry that dates to 1892 and one that bore "The (Ryne) Sandberg Game" and "The (Albert) Pujols Game" produced, "The PCA Game" on Saturday night, if you will.

"I mean, shoot, he had a crazy day today," Cardinals' standout rookie JJ Wetherholt said of Crow-Armstrong.

 

Crow-Armstrong, who also ended the game with a sliding catch to rob Jordan Walker of extra bases, responded to the taunts by drilling a 96.8 mph four-seam fastball from Gordon Graceffo that not only cleared the right field wall but also sailed over the Cardinals’ bullpen. After the blast that left the bat at 114.6 mph, Crow-Armstrong playfully waved his right arm overhead in the direction of the “Tarps Off” crowd that has been sweeping through the baseball world most of May.

"It's not rocket science with him -- you've got to get ahead and put good pitches in good areas and then get him to expand when you have two strikes on him," Cardinals starter Kyle Leahy said of Crow-Armstrong.  "He does a good job of hitting your mistakes. It's pretty simple -- get ahead (in the count), execute and put him away. That's the best way to say it with him."

A night after hitting three home runs in a 6-5 defeat of the Cubs in the series opener, the Cardinals had no such luck leaving the yard against right-hander Ben Brown (2-2). Brown allowed just three hits and one earned run while striking out six over seven innings of work. Also, Brown extended his streak of innings without allowing a homer to 51 1/3 innings – 1 1/3 innings shy of the club record set by Marcus Stroman in 2023.

In his second game ever in the vaunted Cards-Cubs rivalry, Wetherholt hammered out three singles. Alec Burleson had the only other two hits and drove in Wetherholt for St. Louis' only run. 

"With the crowds and how engaged everybody is, each moment feels more intense," Wetherholt said. "We're just trying to play better baseball. They played really well tonight, and we've got to find a way to bounce back."  

Thomas Saggese hopes Friday's game-tying homer jump-starts his season  

Fernandez was his own worst enemy

Ryan Fernandez, who pitched out of trouble in the fifth inning by striking out Ian Happ and getting Seiya Suzuki to ground out, proved to be his own worst enemy in the sixth. Fernandez fielded a tapper back to him, but his side-armed throw was wide of first for an error. He then walked .188 hitter Dansby Swanson before being relieved by left-hander Justin Bruihl, who hit Crow-Armstrong with his second pitch. An RBI hit by Nico Hoerner and an RBI sac fly by Michael Busch vaulted the Cubs into a 3-1 lead.

"That's the part of the game where you're in a tough position once that happened," Cardinals' manager Oliver Marmol said of Fernandez's poor throw to first base. "The throw to first, it looks a lot better with two outs and the No. 9 hole up. But then, you (make a poor throw) and walk the next guy and it puts you in a really tough spot."

The Cardinals tried to answer right back, but they ended up squandering a scoring chance. After Victor Scott reached on a walk and Wetherholt singled the other way, Ivan Herrera tapped to third where new Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman stepped on the bag and threw to first for an inning-ending double play.  

The Cardinals grabbed the game’s first lead when Wetherholt opened the fourth with a single and he came around to score on Burleson’s liner to right field.

As has been the case with him all season, Leahy ran into trouble as soon as he faced the Cubs’ lineup a third time. Crow-Armstrong led off the fifth with a double and scored two batters later to tie the game at 1 when Busch laced a single up the middle.

"I was able to work out of some situations, which is good," Leahy said. "But at the end of the day, I feel like I let the bullpen down. I just wish I could have given them more."

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