Pete Crow-Armstrong Has Breakout Night in Cubs' Win Over Cardinals

The Chicago Cubs gained some much-needed ground in the division as they beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-1 at Busch Stadium on Saturday night.

With the Milwaukee Brewers losing earlier in the day, the Cubs (32-27) took back a game on both of their NL Central rivals and sit three games back of first place ahead of Sunday's rubber match.

The Cubs fired on all cylinders in the win, and it felt like a return to their pre-losing streak standards that they have desperately needed.

Here are three things we learned from the bounce-back win!

Still Cruising, Still Ben Brown

May 30, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Chicago Cubs pitcher Ben Brown (32) delivers against the St. Louis Cardinals during the first inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Le-Imagn Images | Jeff Le-Imagn Images

Ben Brown entered his fifth start of the season on Saturday carrying a 2.01 ERA over 16 appearances. In his four starts, he'd been even better, complete with a 1.89 ERA with 23 strikeouts to just six walks in 19 innings pitched.

Brown was brilliant in his last start in Pittsburgh on Monday, but run support was an issue — the Cubs left seven on base and went 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position. Six innings of one-run ball and seven strikeouts weren't quite enough in the 2-1 loss.

This time around, Brown's teammates gave him the cushion he needed, even if it took a while for the bats to get going. All Brown had to do was exactly what he's been doing, and it kept the Cubs in the game.

Ben Brown's final line tonight:

7 IP | 3 H | 1 ER | 1 BB | 6 K

He lowers his ERA to 1.92 on the season. His 0.93 WHIP is 5th-lowest among SP in MLB (min. 50 IP).

Also has the longest active streak in MLB without allowing a HR (51.1 IP) 😮‍💨
— Zoe Grossman (@zoe__grossman) May 31, 2026

Brown bowed out of the game after seven strong innings, allowing just a run on three hits and striking out six in the process.

His season ERA now stands at 1.92 over 51.2 innings, and he has not allowed a home run since the very first batter he faced this season. That makes his 51.1 innings pitched without allowing a home run the longest active streak in MLB!

Brown's resurgence has been the saving grace that the Cubs have needed this season, and he's showing exactly what he's made of every time he takes the mound.

PCA's Breakout Night

May 30, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Chicago Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong (4) is safe from St. Louis Cardinals second baseman JJ Wetherholt (26) during the third inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Le-Imagn Images | Jeff Le-Imagn Images

Cardinals fans were audibly booing Pete Crow-Armstrong every time he stepped up to the plate at Busch Stadium.

Clearly, he loved it.

After striking out in the first inning, Crow-Armstrong rattled off four straight hits to cap off a 4-for-5 night. It was his first four-hit game of the season and the fourth time he's done it in his big-league career.

And perhaps his most emphatic one was the towering 444-foot solo shot he crushed in the 8th inning as St. Louis fans in the 'tarps off' section of the right field grandstand chanted "overrated" at the budding superstar. The ball rocketed off Crow-Armstrong's bat at a whopping 114.6 mph for his seventh long ball of the season.

As he rounded first base, he turned toward right field and twirled his wrist in the air, as if he were waving a discarded shirt above his head.

TARPS OFF. BALL GONE. pic.twitter.com/4oW1AuryUG
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) May 31, 2026

Crow-Armstrong needed a triple for the cycle when he came up to bat in the 9th, but he had to settle for a single punched into right field and another RBI. Big whoop!

The cherry on top of Crow-Armstrong's night was the sliding catch he made as the final out of the game — a fitting ending to what was a statement performance for the 24-year-old.

Are the Tides Turning for Nico Hoerner?

May 26, 2026; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Chicago Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner (2) looks on at the batting cage before the game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images | Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

Nico Hoerner's slump this month has been pretty puzzling to anyone who has watched him since Game 1 of 162.

Hoerner finished April with a .300/.376/.464 slash line and was playing some of the best baseball of his career out of the gate.

However, Hoerner has hit just .206 in May. He hasn't been driving the ball and has had some uncharacteristic plate appearances throughout the Cubs' 10-game losing streak. His production with runners in scoring position — something that has always been his forte — dropped off.

Hoerner getting going again is absolutely crucial for Chicago to get back to where they were. And on Saturday, he started to look like his old self at the plate again.

It was Hoerner's bases-loaded single in the 6th that gave the Cubs the lead, and they never looked back. That opposite-field line drive was the exact kind of contact that was making him and the Cubs baseball's very best in April.

COMPUTAH, ADD MORE RUNS PLEASE. pic.twitter.com/evqhdgxou3
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) May 31, 2026

Hoerner added another single in the 8th. A grounder up the middle in the 9th with the bases loaded could have been more runs for the Cubs, but some crafty defense by the Cardinals' middle infield turned a double play instead.

Hoerner was visibly upset with himself as he ran through first base, but the way he was seeing the ball on Saturday was absolutely a sign of better things to come for him.

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