Words failed Pete Crow-Armstrong this week, and for the last two nights, shockingly, so did his gold-embossed glove.
“I mean, yesterday and today are like genuinely laughable,’’ Crow-Armstrong said.
The Cubs center fielder charged and took an infielder’s swipe at David Hamilton’s second-inning liner as it bounced at his feet but whiffed, the ball skipping past him and rolling all the way to the wall. Hamilton, with two Brewers teammates preceding him, circled the bases for a three-run misplay.
On a night of sour notes, none resonated larger in a 5-0 loss Wednesday night to the Brewers, who made a clean sweep of their three-game set against the Cubs, who have now lost five in a row, including two to the White Sox.
The Cubs’ occupancy of first place in the National League Central was served an eviction notice by the northern invaders, who outscored the Cubs by a 19-5 margin to open a 1½-game lead over the home nine, which finds itself in third place, percentage points behind the Cardinals. The Cubs now have lost four straight series after two 10-game winning streaks in the span of 23 games.
In Tuesday night’s 5-2 loss to Milwaukee, Crow-Armstrong had dropped a routine fly ball in a week that began with an ugly exchange with a Rate Field spectator during Sunday’s extra-inning loss to the White Sox, leading him to be fined $5,000 by Major League Baseball.
Crow-Armstrong, still in uniform more than a half hour after Wednesday’s game ended, acknowledged that the incident, which he said was exacerbated by another spectator making vile comments about his mother, may have contributed to his rare lapses afield.
“I think one thing I can fall back on is that it’s never really a lack of focus, but trying too hard and trying to make up for my lack of production that I’ve given this team and this city,’’ he said.
“And you know, not acting as I should, I think anything physical usually starts mental, and I think that’s just what I’m showing everybody right now. So show up and keep pushing, but that can’t happen, that kind of stuff.’’
🚨 DAVID HAMILTON LITTLE LEAGUE HOME RUN 🚨 pic.twitter.com/P2rUVVfTiw
— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) May 21, 2026
For 15 consecutive home dates before the Brewers’ visit, Wrigley Field rocked to “Go, Cubs, Go,” the celebratory victory ditty.
But for the last three nights, nothing but the sounds of silence, except for the scattered cheers of Brewers fans.
Oh, there also was a discordant chorus of boos unleashed by the home fans in a crowd of 39,459 put off by an unseemly display of baseball that also included:
• More nonexistent offense, which accounted for just two hits and a walk in seven innings against Brewers lefty Kyle Harrison, who at one point set down 15 consecutive Cubs batters and didn’t need a 100 mph fastball to do it;
• Three errors, the one by Crow-Armstrong, and two charged to catcher Carson Kelly, one for catcher’s interference, the other an errant throw;
• A premature departure by Cubs starter Edwin Cabrera, who left with a blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand after throwing one pitch in the fourth and is in danger, manager Craig Counsell said, of missing his next start;
• An ongoing Whiff-o-rama by Ian Happ, who had been such a key contributor to the Cubs’ offense during the two 10-game winning streaks but struck out three times Wednesday and has now has struck out 13 times in his last 23 at-bats, including seven times in the three games against the Brewers. Happ now has struck out more times than Munetaka Murakami;
• A run-scoring, boos-inducing wild pitch by out-of-sorts reliever Phil Maton, still searching for sanity after a horrific stretch.
But for better or worse, this week the narrative revolves around Crow-Armstrong.
“The results don’t show, but I feel really good in the [batter’s] box,’’ he said. “I’m still proud of my at-bats.
“I’m still showing up every day, so the way that I work and the way that everybody else in here works, individual stuff is going to turn around.’’
