ST. LOUIS — What proved to be the deciding run in the Cubs’ 8-7 loss Tuesday to the Cardinals scored on a defensive miscue by center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong, which has been a rarity this season.
With one out in the fourth inning, Crow-Armstrong caught Alec Burleson’s long fly ball a step before the wall in center field. But he had lost track of the number of outs and nonchalantly spun and bounced off the wall as though the inning was over.
Masyn Winn, the Cardinals’ baserunner on second, tagged up and was starting to round third by the time Crow-Armstrong realized his mistake and fired home. The throw was too late, and the relay was off-line, to boot. That capped a four-run Cardinals rally that gave them an 8-5 lead.
Always gotta know how many outs there are on the field.
Pete Crow-Armstrong did not
pic.twitter.com/G0eunMO5lT— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) June 25, 2025
‘‘Obviously, he’s one of the best defenders in baseball,’’ Cubs starter Jameson Taillon, who gave up eight runs in four innings, said of Crow-Armstrong. ‘‘That’s just a freak thing. He takes a lot of pride in his defense, takes a lot of pride in being a great teammate, so I’m not too worried about it. I was just more mad at myself for giving up the [three] homers and giving up a lot of hard contact.
‘‘I’m not too concerned with the eighth run I gave up; I’m concerned with all eight.’’
Most of the damage against Taillon came on a trio of home runs. There were hitter-friendly conditions at Busch Stadium, with the temperature at 93 degrees at first pitch. But Taillon also served up some hitter-friendly pitches.
Lars Nootbaar hit a two-run homer on a cutter over the middle of the plate, Winn matched him with a two-run blast on a hanging slider and Nolan Gorman’s solo shot came on a fastball right down the middle.
Taillon has allowed 21 homers this season, the second-most in the majors behind the Rays’ Zack Littell (22).
The Cubs countered with two homers of their own. Immediately after Kyle Tucker’s two-run single in the third, Seiya Suzuki lined a three-run homer into the visitors’ bullpen.
Then in the sixth, Nico Hoerner hit his first homer of the season, a two-run shot that hit the row of advertisements just above the left-field wall.
Trailing 8-7, the Cubs had a chance to take the lead in the seventh. With one out and runners on first and third, Crow-Armstrong tried to bunt for a base hit against left-hander JoJo Romero but was thrown out, moving Suzuki from first to second. Burleson then dived into the netting in right to catch Dansby Swanson’s foul fly to end the inning.
‘‘I didn’t do a good job of playing the game of baseball today,’’ Crow-Armstrong said with a sigh.
The Cubs made another push in the ninth, with Tucker and Crow-Armstrong singling. But with runners on second and third and two outs, Swanson grounded out.
‘‘Not really holding my end of the bargain up right now, in that regard,’’ said Swanson, who entered the game with a .145 batting average with runners in scoring position. ‘‘And it’s definitely something that frustrates me and I’ve got to be better with.’’
Scuffling
The result extended the Cubs’ skid to three games, and they’ve lost five of their last six.
‘‘This clubhouse has every ability to keep playing the way we were playing,’’ Crow-Armstrong said. ‘‘Things haven’t gone our way, and we haven’t played the best baseball over the last couple of weeks. But it’s just a two-week stretch that I’m positive we’re going to get past.’’
Minor-leaguer suspended
Right-hander Anhuar Garcia, who is on the Cubs’ Arizona Complex League roster, was suspended for 60 games without pay under the minor-league drug program after testing positive for the performance-enhancing substance Methenolone, MLB announced.
