Crow-Armstrong hits – Pete Crow-Armstrong delivered the first cycle in the majors this season Monday at Wrigley Field against the Rockies—then got picked off first base on the very next pitch. The performance tied together his electric tools with the kind of mistake that can still
For one night at Wrigley Field, Pete Crow-Armstrong looked unstoppable—and then, almost immediately, he looked human.
The Chicago Cubs’ center fielder hit for the cycle Monday night against the Colorado Rockies. He opened the bottom of the first with a 434-foot home run off Michael Lorenzen. He tripled in the third inning. doubled in the fifth. and then singled in the seventh to finish one of baseball’s rarest feats.
The celebration didn’t even have time to settle. After completing the cycle, Crow-Armstrong drifted too far off first base on the very next pitch. Brennan Bernadino wheeled and threw to TJ Rumfield, catching him for the out.
It was a landmark night in multiple ways: the first cycle in the majors this season, the first of Crow-Armstrong’s career, and just the 13th cycle in Cubs history. It also marked the first time a Cubs player had recorded a cycle since Carson Kelly in 2025.
Cycles have a way of grabbing headlines because they’re so scarce. Since 1882, there have been roughly 350 cycles in total. There are only 14 natural cycles—meaning a player hits the proper sequence of long ball, triple, double, and single in the same run.
Crow-Armstrong’s was one of the exceptions that still felt special: he did the hard part first. The home run came to begin the run, and he later filled in the rest. In the same game, he added a picture-perfect mix of speed and range. He led off with power, then stayed productive with extra-base hits, and finally completed the sequence with a single.
But his night also captured the tension that tends to follow him. He is one of the most talented players in baseball. and one of the most maddening—sometimes in the same trip to the plate. His tools are absurd: he flies on the bases. runs down almost everything in center field. and when he’s locked in. the bat is unreal.
Since May 30—when he answered a section of St. Louis hecklers with a 444-foot homer—Crow-Armstrong has been hitting .453 with seven home runs and a 19-game on-base streak. He is just 24.
Still. his profile has always included the swing-and-miss risks that don’t show up in a box score until the moment they do. He is a career .245 hitter, and he runs himself into outs and goes quiet for stretches. Monday night put both sides on display: record-book production, followed immediately by a mistake that turned into a pickoff.
In the space of a single evening, the Cubs center fielder managed to do the rarest things in baseball—and then remind everyone how quickly even a superstar can get caught too far from the base when the adrenaline is still running.
Pete Crow-Armstrong Chicago Cubs cycle Wrigley Field Colorado Rockies Michael Lorenzen Brennan Bernardino TJ Rumfield MLB news
So he hit for the cycle and then immediately botched getting back to first? Classic baseball lol
I swear Cubs fans are gonna remember this forever. Cycle AND then out on the next pitch, like the universe said nope. Also Wrigley Field doing Wrigley things as always.
Wait he got picked off right after the cycle?? That sounds made up honestly. Like how can you even be on first base if you just finished a single in the seventh? Maybe the article means something else.
Crow-Armstrong is either unstoppable or not, no in between. The whole ‘natural cycles’ thing confused me though, like why is there only 14?? Also picked off at first base feels like a mental mistake not a skill issue, idk.