PITTSBURGH – Paul Skenes is the type of pitcher the Cubs are going to have to beat if they’re going to make a deep October run.
They showed they’re capable of taking it to the game’s best, tagging the Pirates’ ace and reigning NL Cy Young winner for five runs in an 11-0 blowout win Saturday.
It was another banner night for All-Star center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong, who won two of his three showdowns with Skenes – his crushed RBI double off the wall started the scoring – and had four hits on the night, homering and coming a triple shy of his second cycle of the season.
“I love facing Paul,” Crow-Armstrong said of Skenes, a teammate both as a pre-teen and with Team USA in the World Baseball Classic. “He’s one of the best competitors in our sport. I admire that the most about him.
“I love how he goes about his business. It’s fun to watch that behind the scenes when you get to be in the same clubhouse as him. Taking that personal experience into today with me and into any matchup with him, it’s fun.”
Skenes is good as big league arms come, once again a candidate for the sport’s top pitching award in a crowded NL field.
But Crow-Armstrong is having a spectacular season, making the case that he is – as the award states – the most valuable player in baseball. He came into Saturday leading the game’s position players with 6.6 fWAR.
“The best leadoff hitter,” lefty starter Shota Imanaga said through an interpreter. “He can get extra-base hits, he can hit a homer, he can get on, he can steal.
“If you’re the opposing pitcher and you’re facing him to start a game, that’s tough.”
From Steel City to the North Side
Left fielder Ian Happ walked Saturday, extending his on-base streak in his hometown to a remarkable 43 games, the longest such streak in PNC Park’s history.
A night earlier, Happ did it all in an extra-inning Cubs win, making big plays with his bat, with his glove and on the base paths.
“Ian’s amazing,” lefty starter Matthew Boyd said. “It speaks to what he is as a player, what he means to this team.”
Whether Happ’s 10th season on the North Side is his last – like outfield-mate Seiya Suzuki, Happ’s slated to hit free agency after the season – his experience with the organization has proven valuable inside the Cubs’ clubhouse.
“He truly embodies what it means to be a Cub,” Boyd said. “He plays the game the right way. You hear his ovation every time he jogs out to left field, from the bleachers. … Some of those things might seem irrelevant to some people, but it is special.
“He knows the gravity of putting on those pinstripes and what it means to the city and the fans.
“He’s a direct connection to that 2016 team, too, and he got to play around a lot of champions. Whenever … you get to be around championship players, that stuff wears off on you. He carries himself like a pro, and you can’t put a price tag on that. It’s valuable to all of us.”
Shota shoves
Imanaga threw six shutout innings Saturday. He’s been excellent since a sour four-start stretch earlier this summer, with a 2.00 ERA in his last eight outings, a boon for an injury-plagued Cubs pitching staff.
“The chances we’ve had when he’s been on the mound this whole year have been plentiful,” Crow-Armstrong said. “He’s pitching exactly like he is capable of, and he’s definitely got some more where that came from, too.”