CHICAGO -- Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong continued his torrid stretch Sunday, hitting his 13th and 14th home runs of August -- the most by any MLB player in a calendar month this season. But Chicago dropped its third consecutive series -- this one to the Cincinnati Reds -- pivoting Crow-Armstrong's focus from himself to the team.
"It's been a tough last three series, but still got some baseball to play," he said after the 7-5 loss. "So just going to keep doing what I'm doing, keep doing what we're doing. And I think we'll find ourselves in a nice position when the regular season's over."
The defeat dropped the Cubs into a tie with the Philadelphia Phillies for the top wild card spot in the National League, though Crow-Armstrong continues to do his part to lead Chicago. He hit five home runs over the final two games of the series, leading off with a homer both Saturday and Sunday and topping off Sunday's contest with a ninth-inning blast.
"The ball just explodes off his bat and it's a no-doubt home run," manager Craig Counsell said of his first-inning homer. "And then he does it again and he's making it look a lot easier than it is."
Crow-Armstrong's 14 home runs in August match former Cubs outfielder Alfonso Soriano's total in September 2007. Sammy Sosa holds the club record, hitting 20 in June 1998. He's also the fifth player in franchise history to accumulate five homers over a two-game span, joining teammate Dansby Swanson, who accomplished the feat earlier this season.
Hall of Famer Billy Williams is the only left-handed hitter in Cubs history to record 40 home runs in a single season. With 38 so far this year, Crow-Armstrong is likely to join him.
"I'm here because I'm a part of something bigger than me," Crow-Armstrong said, again directing the conversation away from himself. "I've found that everything that I do is usually for other people when it comes to why I play this game. So you always get asked about stuff that happened physically on the field or whatever it is you guys want to report, but I don't have that much to say about hitting baseballs.
"If I have any goals, it's being out there every day and being available every day."
Crow-Armstrong started a couple of games as the designated hitter earlier this month, which he says has helped keep him fresh. He is a candidate for NL MVP, especially considering that Los Angeles Dodgers two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani doesn't have a return date to the mound and is mired in a hitting slump. Crow-Armstrong will head into the final month of the season as the favorite.
"He spoiled us the last two days for sure," Counsell said.
The Cubs' loss Sunday came after starter Shota Imanaga gave up three home runs, increasing his total to 33 on the season. That is tied for the most in MLB and helped push the Cubs staff to the top of the league in home runs given up. Despite surrendering three or more home runs in a franchise-record six games this season, Counsell said Imanaga's spot in the rotation is not in jeopardy.
"No," Counsell said. "We need Shota. We need Shota to be good for us. We need Shota for however many starts he's got left to make good starts."
