BALTIMORE — Pete Crow-Armstrong isn’t showing any signs of cooling off at the plate.
Crow-Armstrong became the first hitter with at least 20 home runs and 20 steals in MLB this season when he went deep in the third inning to give the Chicago Cubs an early lead against the Orioles on Wednesday night at Camden Yards.
The 24-year-old center fielder took Orioles starter Dean Kremer out of the ballpark again in the fifth for his second mutlihomer game of the season. Seiya Suzuki added a three-run shot in a five-run seventh, and the Cubs held on for a 9-7 victory, their third straight and eighth in 10 games.
Crow-Armstrong is the first Cub with back-to-back 20-20 seasons since Sammy Sosa did it in three straight (1993-95) and the third with multiple such seasons (Sosa and Ryne Sandberg).
He accomplished the feat before the All-Star break for a second consecutive season. It again puts Crow-Armstrong in rare company as one of four players in MLB history to go 20-20 before their team’s 95th game in a season after reaching the mark in 73 games last year and in the Cubs’ 92nd game Wednesday. He joins Alfonso Soriano (2002-03, ’06), Jose Canseco (1988, ’98) and Bobby Bonds (1969, ’73, ’77).
Including Wednesday’s game, Crow-Armstrong’s 5.8 fWAR leads all big-league hitters while posting a .297/.385/.544 slash line with 21 home runs, 14 doubles, four triples, 52 RBIs, 23 steals and 59 runs scored.
