Chicago Cubs: PCA owns up to outfield flub, team jumps to his defense

The Chicago Cubs’ woes continued on Tuesday night in St. Louis in an 8-7 loss to the division rival Cardinals in what was their fifth defeat in six games. With the setback, their lead in the NL Central Division falls to 2.5 games over both the Cardinals and the Milwaukee Brewers.

To make matters even more frustrating, even the team’s strengths seem to be faltering right now.

Specifically, the deciding flub of the evening came via defensive lapse by the team’s highly-touted elite defender and burgeoning superstar Pete Crow-Armstrong.

In the fourth inning, after the Cubs had taken the lead with a 5-run third and the Cards had re-taken the lead, the Cardinals’ Alec Burleson flied out to deep center field with one out and the speedy Masyn Winn on second base.

PCA loses track of outs, makes game-deciding flub

Crow-Armstrong made a routine catch of the fly ball, but thought it was the third out of the inning. He nonchalantly took in the ball and began to jog back to the dugout as Winn hustled around the bases to score the run in a rare two-base sacrifice fly advance.

PCA loses track of how many outs there are, and Masyn Winn scores from second on a flyout to center field. pic.twitter.com/vkCtZhDu1P

— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) June 25, 2025

The eighth run scored because of the gaffe would turn out to be the winning run of the ball game.

After the game, when asked to confirm that he had lost track of the number of outs, the young star was direct and to the point.

“Simple as that,” Crow-Armstrong affirmed.

Chicago Cubs come to PCA’s defense

PCA’s manager and teammates were quick to jump to the defense of an asset who’s played spectacularly all season and who is especially adept with the glove, currently leading all National League outfielders in Outs Above Average (10).

“He lost track of the outs. It’s just a mistake,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell told media.

“He’s been so good for us this year,” said losing pitcher Jameson Taillon, who gave up all eight runs over four innings pitched in Tuesday’s loss. “Obviously, he’s one of the best defenders in baseball. 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 more mad at myself for giving up the 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. I’m sure it won’t happen again. He’s been so good for us.”

A failed chance at redemption

Three innings after the mistake, Crow-Armstrong had a chance to play the hero role, but flubbed for a second time. With runners on the corners and one out, down by a run, an attempted bunt for a hit missed its mark and became just a simple sacrifice. The next batter, Dansby Swanson, would make the final out of the inning.

“That was an attempt for a little push bunt, trying to bunt for a base hit,” Crow-Armstrong told reporters. “But I didn’t do a good job of playing the game of baseball today.”

The 23-year-old, however, seemed to keep things in perspective following the tough loss.

“We got a very capable group, a lot of good leadership in this clubhouse,” Crow-Armstrong said. “This clubhouse has every ability to keep playing the way we were playing. Things haven’t gone our way, and we haven’t played the best baseball over the last couple weeks, but it’s just a two-week stretch that I’m positive we’re going to get past.”

As for how to come back from a bad, embarrassing day like Tuesday?

“Go to sleep and wake up,” he said.

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