Pete Crow-Armstrong, Kyle Tucker snap homerless streaks to power Cubs past Angels

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The last person to give Pete Crow-Armstrong an encouraging pat before his last at-bat Friday was fellow Cubs outfielder Kyle Tucker, who had snapped his monthlong homerless streak in the first inning.

‘‘I felt a little bit freed up for him,’’ Crow-Armstrong said after the Cubs’ 3-2 victory against the Angels. ‘‘And I think that honestly probably contributed to me taking my fourth at-bat after not really doing anything.’’

In that fourth at-bat, Crow-Armstrong lifted a no-doubt home run into the right-field seats at Angel Stadium, giving the Cubs the lead in the ninth.

‘‘Two guys that needed a big hit, and just getting them a contribution to a ‘W’ on the offensive side, it makes everybody feel good,’’ manager Craig Counsell said after the game. ‘‘The game doesn’t grant you any favors. . . . You’ve got to keep coming out and keep trying to do it. And those guys got the two big hits [Friday].’’

Tucker kept things going with two homers, a double and five RBI in the Cubs’ 12-1 rout Saturday. Reese McGuire added a grand slam and five RBI, and rookie right-hander Cade Horton allowed three hits and struck out seven in six scoreless innings.

When the Cubs’ offense was clicking before the All-Star break, Tucker and Crow-Armstrong were the engines behind that success.

Both, however, had been mired in extended slumps. Tucker’s started in July and Crow-Armstrong’s in August. Neither had homered in 25 games before ending those streaks Friday.

‘‘Kyle, he’s so pro,’’ Crow-Armstrong said. ‘‘Any guy with a track record like that, you’re always just kind of waiting for that one swing from him. And he got us off to a good start.’’

Tucker’s facial expression was stoic as he rounded the bases after his homer landed over the right-field fence, but the visitors’ dugout was raucous.

‘‘I haven’t done that in a while,’’ Tucker said. ‘‘So it was nice to be back doing that and helping us win.’’

It was the second-longest homerless streak of his career, behind a 28-game stretch in 2018, his rookie season.

In the ninth, as Crow-Armstrong stepped up to the plate against veteran reliever Kenley Jansen, Counsell said he could hear assistant hitting coach John Mallee ‘‘almost praying.’’

‘‘ ‘Make it your first one in a while,’ [Mallee] said right before the pitch,’’ Counsell said. ‘‘He got a pitch to do something with and did something good.’’

After closer Daniel Palencia secured the save, Crow-Armstrong’s homer stood as the game-winner.

‘‘That feeling of contributing, that’s what I’m looking forward to build off of,’’ Crow-Armstrong said. ‘‘I haven’t played my part up to this point since the [All-Star] break, so it’s definitely a feeling to build off of.’’

Assad optioned

As the Cubs figure out the innings puzzle for the last five weeks of the regular season, right-hander Javier Assad is expected to play an important role. But the team optioned him Saturday to Triple-A Iowa after his best start of the season and recalled left-hander Jordan Wicks.

That gave them a fresh arm and the ability to keep Assad stretched out while regular starts aren’t available.

Assad made his third major-league start of the season Friday after being sidelined for most of the year by an oblique injury. He allowed one run and two hits in six innings.

‘‘It’s the fastball away,’’ Counsell said after the game. ‘‘That’s a heavy right-handed lineup, so when he has the fastball away, it just gets that right-handed hitter leaning out a little bit over the plate. Then it opens up the fastball in. And he did a great job mixing in the cutter [for] just a little different shape.’’