CINCINNATI -- Nico Hoerner had one of the biggest at-bats of the night. But he missed the biggest moment.
Nature called on the Cubs' second baseman when Pete Crow-Armstrong belted a go-ahead grand slam in a six-run seventh inning, turning a 6-4 deficit into an 8-6 lead and leading Chicago to a stunning 13-6 road romp over the Reds on Friday night.
“I was in the bathroom. I actually completely missed it,” Hoerner said, acknowledging that he knew something big happened when manager Craig Counsell let loose some emotion in the dugout. “I heard Counsell. He sounded pretty excited.”
Crow-Armstrong belted a first-pitch slider from reliever Tony Santillan (0-1) for his first career slam, a towering fly ball that just nicked the outside of the right-field foul pole to cap a six-run outburst against Cincinnati's bullpen.
Crow-Armstrong, who stood at the plate and waited and watched the ball stay just fair, followed a pair of plays Cincinnati failed to make in the field that would’ve ended the rally. As the reality of the ball touching the foul pole hit home with PCA, he flipped his bat towards the Cubs’ on-deck circle.
“No, I don't really remember what I did, either, to be honest with you,” Crow-Armstrong said. “That was like the blackout moment for sure.”
Crow-Armstrong is the first Cubs player with two six-RBI games in a calendar month since RBIs became official in 1920.
“Go-ahead [home run], big inning, big spot, I guess. But those are those moments in baseball where we talk about hype sports in basketball and football, and there's a lot of those kind of exciting plays. I've learned that it is nice to be able to enjoy those, getting to look in the dugout after that ball hits the foul pole. I think this is a sport where you should appreciate those moments, and we've had a lot of those this year, so it's been nice to be able to kind of cherish those,” Crow-Armstrong said.
It was Crow-Armstrong’s second homer of the night and his team-leading 14th.
“Real cool,” PCA added. “We always find a lot of interesting stats in this game, I'm starting to see, so it is what it is. We do have a very storied organization, though. And it's an important thing being able to wear the [Cubs'] ‘C’ on your chest every day. And we wake up and go to work for games like these to be able to come out with wins. It's a nice history that we got over here, and it's fun to be a Cub.”
The Cubs scored twice in the seventh against Ian Gibaut when Hoerner avoided the tag of Matt McLain at second base on a grounder by Matt Shaw and Ian Happ blooped a hit off the glove of Santiago Espinal, who tried to make a play better suited for left fielder Austin Hays. Kyle Tucker followed with a two-run single before PCA launched his fateful slam.
“Having guys on base in front of me, it definitely gives a little more peace of mind,” said Crow-Armstrong, who batted cleanup Friday. “Going to that at-bat, knowing that a sac fly gets it done, finding some grass gets it done … And I'm very lucky to be able to move around throughout this lineup and have a lot of opportunity in front of me in terms of runs batted in.
“But I don't get that without my dudes on base. So, yeah, I just want to contribute wherever I can in the lineup, and I know I'm going to have a lot of backup.”
Exactly one week earlier, in a 13-3 rout of the White Sox at Wrigley, PCA had six RBIs from the leadoff spot. In the series opener in Cincinnati, Crow-Armstrong thrilled the boisterous Cubs fans invading Great American Ball Park.
As for Hoerner, he had arguably the biggest at-bat of the game before the grand slam, working Cincinnati starter Hunter Greene for 12 pitches before popping out to short to end the fourth inning. The at-bat, while not producing a run with runners on first and second, did cap a 37-pitch inning for Greene, a toll so heavy that it ended his night at 83 pitches.
Greene was coming off the injured list Friday night and breezed through the first three innings on just 46 pitches. But in the fourth, Crow-Armstrong pulled a 99.9 mph fastball to the seats in right-center for his first homer of the night, cutting Cincinnati’s lead to 4-2.
Suzuki added insurance in the eighth with a three-run homer off Brent Suter, his 13th long ball of the year. Both Crow-Armstrong and Suzuki finished with three hits as the Cubs scored 11 unanswered runs over the final three innings.
Chris Flexen (2-0) relieved Julian Merryweather with runners on first and third and two outs in the fifth, and he got out of it when Cincinnati botched a double steal for the third out at second base. Flexen then pitched a perfect sixth to earn the win.