{"id":223367,"date":"2026-04-08T12:58:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T12:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/223367\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T12:58:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T12:58:08","slug":"pete-crow-armstrong-shows-encouraging-offense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/223367\/","title":{"rendered":"Pete Crow-Armstrong shows encouraging offense"},"content":{"rendered":"

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 Opening the season at Triple-A Iowa was not the ideal beginning to the year for right-hander Javier Assad.<\/p>\n

The 28-year-old has proven to be a reliable big-league pitcher over the last four years, posting a 3.43 ERA in 78 games (54) starts for the Chicago Cubs in that span. But the Cubs\u2019 starting pitching depth and Assad still having a minor-league option meant going to Iowa until they needed him.<\/p>\n

Assad\u2019s first opportunity with the Cubs arrived Tuesday at Tropicana Field in place of Matthew Boyd, who went on the 15-day injured list<\/a> Monday, and hours after manager Craig Counsell announced that Cade Horton\u2019s season was over<\/a> after imaging showed an ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) tear that requires surgery.<\/p>\n

Assad\u2019s 5 2\/3 shutout innings in a 9-2 win earned an ovation from the boisterous Cubs fans that filled the ballpark.<\/p>\n

\"JavierJavier Assad of the Chicago Cubs delivers a pitch in the first inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field on April 7, 2026, in St Petersburg, Fla. (Julio Aguilar\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, that\u2019s not necessarily what you want, you want to be here,\u201d Assad said through an interpreter of being in Triple A. \u201cBut those are things I can\u2019t control, decisions I don\u2019t make, but I was down there working. Just keep working hard, just waiting for whenever an opportunity presented itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Assad surrendered only one hit, an infield single, and worked with an early four-run lead to settle in. His consistency will be an asset for the Cubs while down two starters. Assad\u2019s ability to step into whatever role the Cubs need doesn\u2019t go unnoticed or unappreciated by his teammates. It\u2019s not easy when a player doesn\u2019t have a defined role, but Assad makes it seem natural.<\/p>\n

\u201cJavy has done that many times,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cHe\u2019s stepped up when (he) is needed, and we certainly need it right now. And he delivered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pete Crow-Armstrong shows encouraging offensive signs
\n\"ChicagoChicago Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong celebrates with third base coach Quintin Berry after his solo home run off Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Yoendrys G\u00f3mez during the seventh inning of a game Tuesday, April 7, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo\/Chris O’Meara)<\/p>\n

When Pete Crow-Armstrong is at his best offensively, the lefty is putting the ball in the air to his pull side.<\/p>\n

So, it wasn\u2019t exactly a surprise when he pulled a no-doubt home run to right field Tuesday for his first home run of the season. It was part of a three-hit night for Crow-Armstrong \u2014 he entered the game 8-for-41 to start the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I were to look back at the last five years of my professional playing career, it\u2019s been a slow start for the first two weeks of every single year that I\u2019ve played so just trying to keep that in mind, give myself a little bit of grace,\u201d Crow-Armstrong said. \u201cI mean, you obviously want to have it all figured out right away, but that\u2019s kind of the slippery slope.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crow-Armstrong credited pregame work Tuesday that helped him lift the baseball in a more efficient way after feeling he was being too late on fastballs and driving pitches into the ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever you hit a homer, it feels like something clicks so, I don\u2019t know, that\u2019s one of those things where I don\u2019t want to get ahead of myself,\u201d Crow-Armstrong said. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to get the first one on the board, I guess, but there\u2019s no guarantee I hit another one this year. So, I\u2019ve still got to show up tomorrow and do the same work, put my time in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Offense gets a needed boost<\/p>\n

The Cubs have not yet been hitting like the group collectively expects to this season.<\/p>\n

There isn\u2019t any panic within the clubhouse at a 5-6 start despite the lineup largely being kept quiet through the first two weeks. Tuesday\u2019s performance, though, was the type of game they hope is a trend in the right direction. The Cubs\u2019 16 hits \u2014 which featured seven multi-hit games, including Alex Bregman\u2019s first three-hit game with his new club \u2014 were their most hits in a game since Sept. 9, 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like, as a team, we did a really good job today of continuing to put pressure on all game long,\u201d Bregman said.<\/p>\n

The Cubs will soon get right fielder Seiya Suzuki back, which adds much-needed slug to the lineup. Suzuki is expected to play one more rehab game with Double-A Knoxville on Thursday, then rejoin the Cubs at Wrigley Field for Friday\u2019s series opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Suzuki is 6-for-11 with two doubles in four rehab games.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 Opening the season at Triple-A Iowa was not the ideal beginning to the year…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":223368,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[100860,101086,24229,101087,100236,100861,3823,100272,101085,202,204,203,199,201,200,3815],"class_list":{"0":"post-223367","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-petersburg","8":"tag-alex-bregman","9":"tag-cade-horton","10":"tag-chicago-cubs","11":"tag-craig-counsell","12":"tag-javier-assad","13":"tag-matthew-boyd","14":"tag-mlb-baseball","15":"tag-pete-crow-armstrong","16":"tag-seiya-suzuki","17":"tag-st-pete","18":"tag-st-pete-headlines","19":"tag-st-pete-news","20":"tag-st-petersburg","21":"tag-st-petersburg-headlines","22":"tag-st-petersburg-news","23":"tag-tampa-bay-rays"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}