This time, the shirtless dudes were on Pete Crow-Armstrong’s side.
A little more than two weeks ago, the ‘‘Tarps Off’’ crowd in St. Louis rained chants of ‘‘O-VER-RAT-ED!’’ down on the Cubs’ star center fielder, only for him to deposit a home run 444 feet right into their laps.
On Monday night, after Crow-Armstrong hit for the 13th cycle in team history, six young fans were shown on the Jumbotron. Sans shirts, they also had a message for Wrigleyville’s favorite player, painted on their chests one letter at a time:
‘‘MVPETE.’’
Who knows whether that’s how this season will end, whether Crow-Armstrong’s scalding-hot few weeks are just a summertime streak or the start of something truly special?
But he has looked capable of just about anything lately. He has looked anything but overrated.
‘‘Watching him every day,’’ starting pitcher Shota Imanaga said through an interpreter after the Cubs rallied for a 5-4 victory against the Rockies, ‘‘he’s a player that overcomes your imagination.’’
Huge moments — as big as they can get halfway into June, at least — have been following Crow-Armstrong around. After socking that moonshot into the teeth of those Missouri hecklers, he homered and came through with a walk-off hit to beat the A’s and had a two-homer game — including a tying shot with the Cubs down to their last out — in a walk-off victory against the Giants.
After Monday, it’s time for a new No. 1.
But Crow-Armstrong, who went leadoff homer, triple, double, single for a reverse cycle, wasn’t exactly overcome with glee in his postgame media session. Instead, he was bothered by the mistake that immediately followed, when he was picked off first base while still being cheered.
‘‘We haven’t really been producing like we are so capable of doing,’’ he said. ‘‘When the ultimate goal is to win every ballgame that you step out on the field for, it’s really easy to highlight the stuff you’re not so happy about, and you’ve got to make sure never happens again.
‘‘I did everything I could to help the team, but I also had a real lapse in focus. And that really could have hurt us tonight.’’
Indeed, on a night in which Crow-Armstrong continued his torrid heater — he’s batting .453 with seven homers and 14 extra-base hits since May 30 — the Cubs nearly lost, heading into the bottom of the ninth down a run to the worst team in the majors.
There were mistakes aplenty. In addition to the pickoff, in addition to the Cubs stranding Crow-Armstrong after his leadoff triple in the third and one-out double in the fifth, relievers issued a bases-loaded walk and gave up a three-run homer. The Cubs were 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left 15 men on base.
‘‘A lot felt like it didn’t go right,’’ manager Craig Counsell said. ‘‘Pete had an incredible night. Shota had a really good night. And then a lot of other things felt like they didn’t go right.’’
Yet a victory nonetheless. The Cubs loaded the bases in the ninth before getting a tying single from Pedro Ramirez and a walk-off walk from Matt Shaw.
‘‘We are a scrappy team,’’ Crow-Armstrong said, ‘‘but we’re also going to be a team that feels more dangerous than scrappy once stuff gets rolling again.’’
It will take so much more than ‘‘MVPETE’’ to turn the Cubs back into the team they were earlier in the season, when walk-off victories such as this one were propelling them to the top of the NL Central and to the upper echelon of championship contenders.
They’ll need more consistent offensive success. They’ll need more consistent pitching production. And they’ll need contributions from everyone.
‘‘When you talk about how you’re going to need the whole roster to help you win games, that’s what happened tonight,’’ Counsell said. ‘‘That’s why you win, because you get a bunch of guys on the roster to maybe pick another guy up. That’s what they did tonight.’’