There wasn’t a lot of fanfare when the Chicago Cubs signed catcher Christian Bethancourt to a minor-league contract on July 4.
After all, it’s hard to get excited about a 32-year-old who was hitting .159 in 38 games with the Miami Marlins and played in 403 games with five teams since making his major-league debut in 2013.
But Bethancourt has produced some fireworks in his first four games with the Cubs, including a three-run home run in a five-run second inning Friday to fuel a 6-3 victory against the St. Louis Cardinals in front of 37,613 at Wrigley Field.
“Every homer does feel great,” Bethancourt said. “But it’s an unbelievable moment to hit a homer at Wrigley being on the home side and not on the visitor’s side as in prior times.
“It was an incredible moment.”
The Cubs (54-58) won their second straight in the four-game series against their rivals and five of seven overall to help stay in the National League wild-card mix.
Bethancourt joined the Cubs on July 26 when catcher Tomás Nido went on the 10-day injured list with a right knee sprain. Bethancourt opened his Cubs career with a 2-for-4 performance in a 7-3 win against the Kansas City Royals on Sunday, a 1-for-4 showing with an RBI on Wednesday in a 13-4 rout at Cincinnati before hitting the big home run Friday.
“The dude came out laying down a push bunt in his first Cub at-bat,” center fielder Peter Crow-Armstrong said of Bethancourt. “That’s baseball to me. I love baseball for the little things like that. He had a bunt and double his first game and a homer at Wrigley through the wind today.
“Not too shabby.”
Cubs starter Javier Assad, who allowed one run on four hits and three walks in four innings (97 pitches), is also impressed with Bethancourt.
“He looks comfortable batting out there but he’s also a great catcher,” Assad said through an interpreter. “He communicates really well. He talks to you inning by inning and tells you what’s going on with the upcoming batters. I’m really happy for him.”
Pitcher Erick Fedde made his Cardinals debut after being acquired from the White Sox in a three-team trade Monday. Fedde (7-5) gave up five runs in the second, which included Bethancourt’s home run and a solo shot from Michael Busch.
The Cardinals (56-54) scored two runs in an oddball eighth inning that featured six walks and three strikeouts by Cubs relievers Julian Merriweather and Héctor Neris.
“It wasn’t exactly an immaculate inning,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said.
Cubs pitchers walked nine Cardinals batters through eight innings, but Neris closed the game with a 1-2-3 ninth for his 15th save.
Armstrong stole his 21st base in the seventh, tying Quintin Barry (2012) for the second-most consecutive steals by a rookie to start a season since 1951. Mitchell Paige (26 in 1977) tops the list.
Armstrong is deadly when he gets on base. But he’s hitting just .194 with a .242 on-base percentage.
“Confidence is a thing, but you need to see some hits fall,” he said. “Day in and day out, we’ve been working on how to get me completely myself in the box and unlocking the good parts of me as a hitter.”
Meanwhile, Bethancourt is going to enjoy his hot start with his new team.
“Anything I can do to help the team — defensively, hitting, throwing guys out — is something that I will always be bringing to the table,” he said.
But he won’t look back at the rough start to his season.
“I’m not thinking about that,” Bethancourt said. “I’m just thinking about what’s going on right now.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Chicago Tribune.
