The first round of this season’s City Series ended Sunday at Wrigley Field with the Cubs’ 6-2 win, the first competitive game of the weekend.
The crosstown rivals won’t meet again until July 25-27 on the South Side, where the importance of the series will likely increase if the Cubs remain in a tight divisional race.
Here are three takeaways from the Cubs’ weekend.
Pete Crow-Armstrong tripled and scored leading off Sunday’s game and went 2-for-4 with two runs scored. He’s settled into the leadoff spot while Ian Happ remains on the injured list.
Crow-Armstrong’s 4.7% walk rate entering Sunday isn’t what you typically like in a leadoff hitter, and Happ will return to his old spot when he gets back.
“Getting things going early is really nice all the time,” Crow-Armstrong said afterward. “But I get a lot of chances to hit in the first of second innings anyway. There are ways of looking at hitting leadoff (batting seventh), by leading off the third inning. That’s still early to me in a baseball game. Getting the party started is always fun.”
Manager Craig Counsell said Friday it doesn’t matter where Crow-Armstrong hits, and general manager Carter Hawkins reiterated that Crow-Armstrong’s future batting spot remains uncertain.
“The skill set that he’s shown thus far is more of a power-type skill set, so it’s hard to reconcile that sometimes with a speed and defense kind of guy,” Hawkins said. “He’s shown the ability to hit the ball over the fence, and when you show that ability, you’d like to have some guys on base to do that. I wouldn’t rule it out.
“I mean, Shohei Ohtani hits leadoff. But I do think what we’ve seen from Ian and other elite on-base (percentage) guys, that’s really where the leadoff guy starts to fit in. As that becomes part of Pete’s game, that will become part of the conversation.”
Hawkins believes Crow-Armstrong will be pitched to differently now that he’s proven to be a home-run hitter, which theoretically should lead to more walks. But he added that as long as Crow-Armstrong keeps hitting the way he is, they won’t worry about where he’ll hit down the line.
Cade Horton doesn’t care how the Cubs handle him in his first major-league season.
Whether he’s a starter, or the Cubs use an opener, or he’s put in the bullpen, he’s still in the major leagues.
“At the end of the day, my job is to help my team win, so whatever way that is, I’m happy with what I’m doing,” he said Sunday. “However they need me — bullpen, starter, whatever — it doesn’t matter.”
The Cubs used Brad Keller as an opener in Horton’s first start against the New York Mets. Hawkins said that was to give Horton an “easier landing” due to the strength of the Mets’ lineup.
“And that being his first experience in Major League Baseball, having (Francisco) Lindor, (Juan) Soto and (Pete) Alonso 1-2-3 on the road in New York,” Hawkins said.
Horton made his first start Friday against the White Sox and is scheduled to start Wednesday in Miami against the Marlins.
Boston Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet was in a similar situation as Horton last year with the White Sox, coming off an arm injury that forced the Sox to limit his workload to keep him pitching throughout the season and help his trade value in the offseason. Horton said he loves Crochet but wasn’t paying attention to that.
“He’s a phenomenal pitcher and it’s been cool to watch him dominate, Horton said. “I don’t really watch the usage as much. I just turn on the TV and watch him pitch.”
Hawkins said the Cubs have not mapped out Horton’s schedule or put any limitations on him.
“There is no one that’s been able to show definitively that the overall workload at some particular level is more dangerous or less dangerous,” Hawkins said. “I think we all intuitively know that the more you throw, the more taxing it is. But we’ll keep an eye on all our pitchers, inclusive of Cade, in terms of how their velocity is trending, how their delivery and their strength are trending.
“Someone like Cade, who hasn’t done it in the big leagues, we’ll probably have to keep a closer eye, but there is no set number (of innings).”
Shota Imanaga and Jameson Taillon are the only Cubs starters to have thrown 100 pitches or more in a start this season. Imanaga threw 101 against the Los Angeles Dodgers in an 11-10 win on April 22, and Taillon reached 100 in a 7-2 loss to the Mets on May 9.
Horton said the last time he “touched 100 pitches” was in the 2022 College World Series title game, when he started for Oklahoma and set a CWS record with 13 strikeouts over 7 1/3 innings. He threw 107 pitches while allowing two runs, getting a no-decision in a 4-2 loss to Mississippi.
In his first two outings as a Cub, he’s thrown 77 and 79 pitches, respectively.
“I feel healthy, I feel good and I feel like I can go deep into games,” Horton said. “They’re going to be cautious, and I respect it.”
Hawkins said the Cubs would not move Horton to the bullpen later this season to limit his innings. If they did decide to go that route, Hawkins said, it would be done “to solve for the best roster.”
Left-hander Drew Pomeranz notched the win in relief of Colin Rea on Sunday, his first since Aug. 7, 2021, when he played with the San Diego Padres. That was the last season the 36-year-old Pomeranz pitched in the majors, due to injuries.
He’s been a lifesaver in the Cubs’ bullpen since being signed last month, with 9 1/3 scoreless innings over 10 outings.
“Feels just like I did when I stopped before,” Pomeranz said. “Trying to string them along.”
Pomeranz couldn’t remember anything about his last “W,” which came in relief of Yu Darvish in a 6-2 win over Arizona.
“In 2020 or ’21?” he guessed. “Reliever wins really don’t mean the same. I wish I could pass it along to Colin. But we won. I’ll take it.”
Pomeranz said he enjoyed being part of his first Cubs-Sox game.
“It’s funny to think that the Sox players just drove here from their houses playing an away game,” he said.
