The Cubs and Orioles turned a Wednesday night in Baltimore into a full-blown home run derby, and Pete Crow-Armstrong was right in the middle of it. He got things started with his 20th bomb of the season, a milestone that would've been the headline on a normal night.
PCA rounds the bases pumping his fist after cranking his 20th home run of the season.
Except it wasn't a normal night. This game turned into pure chaos, with both lineups trading haymakers all evening. The Orioles jumped out front early before the Cubs answered with back-to-back home runs to flip the scoreboard right back in their favor.
The Cubs erase an Orioles lead with back-to-back home runs, swinging the score to 3-2.
Then PCA did it again. Just a few innings after his 20th, he went yard for the second time in the game, this one scorched at 106.7 mph off the bat with a 35.2-degree launch angle, pushing the Cubs back in front 4-3.
Crow-Armstrong's second homer of the night, a 106.7 mph missile that put the Cubs back on top.
That second homer wasn't just padding stats in a wild game, it clinched his 20th steal to go with it, making this the second straight season Crow-Armstrong has hit the 20-20 mark. That puts him in rare Cubs company. He's just the third player in franchise history to put together multiple 20-20 seasons, joining Sammy Sosa and Ryne Sandberg, and he's the first Cub since Sosa's 1993-95 run to do it in back-to-back years. Getting there before the All-Star break two years running is even wilder, a feat no major leaguer had pulled off since Alfonso Soriano did it for the Yankees in 2002 and 2003.
None of this was supposed to be the plan when Crow-Armstrong broke into the league as a glove-first center fielder with speed to burn. The power has come fast, and at 21 home runs, 52 RBIs, 23 steals, a .293 average and a .908 OPS through this point in the season, he's turned into one of the most complete young players in baseball. If he's doing this before the break, it's fair to start wondering just how far this season can go once the second half kicks off.