Pete Crow-Armstrong's learning experience contributes to a Cubs loss

Baseball has always been a game of inches, but that adage has felt especially true in the Chicago Cubs’ 2024 season.

Despite sitting several games below .500, they’re still just close enough to a National League wild card spot to keep things interesting. The season can’t be written off just yet when it still feels within reach. In the microcosm, though, misplays like Pete Crow-Armstrong calling Nico Hoerner off a fly ball in the eighth inning of Saturday’s 5-4 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals amplifies the tiny margin for error.

The Cubs led for most of the game, going ahead 4-1 in the second inning, but things flipped quickly in the top of the eighth. Porter Hodge walked St. Louis’ Alec Burleson, hit Willson Contreras with a pitch, and then a throwing error by Isaac Paredes on Brendan Donovan’s single gave the Cardinals a run and put Contreras and Donovan in scoring position. Then, Nolan Arenado hit a fly ball to shallow center field that Hoerner appeared to have a good read on — until Crow-Armstrong called him off.

He couldn’t get to it, however, and both runners scored to tie the game.

The play was not officially ruled an error, but Crow-Armstrong’s decision was a learning experience that turned out to be especially harsh when the Cardinals took the lead in the ninth.

“I called it when I shouldn’t have, simple as that,” Crow-Armstrong said.

The rookie center fielder deserves plenty of praise for his defense. One bad play does not negate the talent he has, nor do his teammates want him changing his style because of Saturday’s outcome.

“I don’t want him to ever feel timid going after balls,” Jameson Taillon said. “Just because this one instance happened doesn’t mean you don’t call balls and you don’t try to be a ball hawk out there.

“You just hope he stays aggressive and still wants every ball that he sees up in the air.”

Hoerner, who looked as though he could have made the catch (which with two outs would have ended the frame with the Cubs ahead 4-2) echoed Taillon’s sentiments.

“The biggest takeaway from my end, and if there’s anything I can emphasize, it’s just that play is all about trust, and I trust Pete as much as anyone I’ve ever played with,” Hoerner said. “He’s one of the best defenders, if not the best defender, I’ve ever been around, and he’s going to win us countless games this year and for years to come.”

Crow-Armstrong should not shoulder the blame alone for Saturday’s outcome.

He didn’t put the two runners on or allow them to get into scoring position, but often it’s the last play in a sequence of bad ones that gets the most attention. Hodge has been great this season — these were the first runs he’s allowed since July 22 — but without the walk and hit batter, a ball dropping just outside of Crow-Armstrong’s glove in shallow center is less catastrophic.

Crow-Armstrong also contributed offensively. In the second inning, he roped an RBI triple to right field and then scored on a safety squeeze. His trademark speed that makes him such a defensive wonder in center paid off on the basepaths. But after the second inning, the Cubs offense as a whole went flat. From the third through ninth innings, they managed just a pair of singles.

But again, it’s the Arenado fly ball that sticks out — fair or not. True, the Cardinals took the lead in the ninth thanks to Tommy Pham hitting a three-bagger to the left-field wall and then scoring on a sacrifice fly, but the momentum of the game had already shifted by that point.

Despite the faith in him expressed by his teammates, Crow-Armstrong expects more of himself on plays like that one.

“I’m appreciative of that,” Crow-Armstrong said of Hoerner and Taillon’s support, “but I think we’re past the point of giving me a little leash there. I definitely appreciate that from my teammates. I think I’d say the same thing to Nico, because that was his ball.”

A player like Crow-Armstrong is going to make mistakes and have tough stretches in his rookie season, and sometimes, those mistakes are going to have a greater cost.

After Saturday’s loss, the Cubs dropped to five games under .500 and six games away from the last wild card spot. They would have to jump six other teams — including three in their own division — in order to grab that third spot. There are still a lot of games to be played, but the Cubs are running short on opportunities.

It’s tough to envision a late-season run, given how difficult it’s been for them to string together wins all season. Having so many clubs within a few games of each other in the standings has made it even tougher, especially because the NL Central is one of the tightest divisions in the league. After the first-place Milwaukee Brewers, only four games separate the second-place (Cardinals) and last-place (Cubs) teams.

“There’s not much margin for error,” Taillon said. “I don’t know if I would say there’s parity. It just seems like there’s a lot of really good players and teams out there. … It comes down to one or two plays every game. Runners on base, being able to make a big pitch, or make a play on defense, or come up with a big swing on offense, stuff like that. It’s very thin, narrow margins.”

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