Cubs 5, Rockies 4: Pete Crow-Armstrong hits for the cycle

One thing is for sure. You cannot say you were not entertained by the Cubs’ 5-4 win over the Rockies Monday evening at Wrigley Field.

It had a little bit of everything — some solid pitching, some blown leads, Pete Crow-Armstrong’s cycle and and in the end, the Cubs’ ninth walk-off win of 2026 on a bases-loaded walk drawn by Matt Shaw.

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Let’s rewind to the beginning.

Shōta Imanaga continued his good pitching over the Rockies. He allowed a leadoff single, then retired the next three Rockies in the first inning.

Then PCA hit his second leadoff home run in the last three days [VIDEO].

That one took four pitches instead of the one pitch it took for him to do it Saturday. And that ball was crushed! [VIDEO]

Cubs leadoff homer facts from BCB’s JohnW53:

Pete Crow-Armstrong’s homer was his second in three games as the Cubs’ first batter of the game. The first was at San Francisco.

He is the 39th Cub since 1876 to do it at least once at home and on the road.

The Cubs have hit 137 first-batter homers at home and 130 on the road, for a total of 267.

Jimmy “Pony” Ryan and Rick Monday hit the most at home, 12. Alfonso Soriano is a distant third, with five, followed by Ian Happ and Corey Patterson, with four.

Soriano is the leader in total first-batter homers, with 22. Ryan had 19; Monday, 17; Dexter Fowler, 12; and Abner Dalrymple, Happ and Brian McRae, eight. No one else had more than five.

Imanaga allowed a two-out single to Jake McCarthy in the second — and then picked him off [VIDEO].

The game stayed at 1-0 Cubs into the sixth. The Cubs had several scoring chances, mainly because PCA was putting together his cycle. He tripled leading off the third [VIDEO].

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Unfortunately, he was stranded. The same thing was PCA’s, and the team’s, fate in the fifth — leadoff double, then stranded [VIDEO].

Imanaga had a run charged to his record in the sixth, and it wasn’t all his fault. He allowed a leadoff walk, then a fielder’s choice and a fly to center had him one out away from finishing six innings with a 1-0 lead. But another single put runners on first and second with two out, and Craig Counsell replaced Imanaga with Phil Maton. I was a bit surprised, as Imanaga was at 89 pitches. But Counsell must have realized that Rockies manager Warren Schaffer would replace Ezequiel Tovar with pinch-hitter Troy Johnston and he preferred that matchup.

Unfortunately, Maton hit Johnston to load the bases and then walked Cole Carrigg to force in the tying run.

The Cubs got the lead back in the bottom of the sixth. With two out, Moisés Ballesteros walked. This triple by Matt Shaw made it 2-1 Cubs [VIDEO].

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The Rockies asked for a review and as you can see in that clip, the ball was clearly fair.

PCA completed his cycle — in reverse order, the first Cub to do that! — with this leadoff single in the seventh [VIDEO].

It was the team’s first cycle since Carson Kelly’s last year against the A’s in Sacramento, and the first by a Cub (and by anyone at Wrigley Field) since Mark Grace cycled in 1993. Later this morning I’ll have a full history of Cubs cycles here. Here’s more on Cubs cycles from John:

PCA’s was 13th in franchise history, including two before Modern Era, both by Jimmy Ryan, in 1888 and 1891.

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No player before PCA had been picked off after completing his cycle.

On Aug. 2, 1940, Joe Cronin of the Red Sox, against the Tigers, tripled in the first and struck out in the third. He led off the fifth with a double, then was picked off on pitcher Bobo Newsom’s throw to shortstop Dick Bartell.

Jimmie Foxx, up next, homered, after which Newsom was replaced by Tom Seats. Cronin singled in the sixth and homered in the eighth to complete the cycle.
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After George Sisler of the Browns completed his cycle with a two-out single in the ninth inning on Aug. 13, 1921 against the Tigers, he tried to steal second and was tagged out, ending the game.

Less than a year later, on July 3, 1922, Bob Meusel of the Yankees began his cycle by singling in the first inning and was caught stealing.

No other player who hit for a cycle was nailed on a steal attempt for more than a century, until Elly
De La Cruz was out trying to steal home after his cycle-completing triple on June 23, 2023.

Here’s more on the reverse cycle: