Cubs 7, Braves 3: Crow-Armstrong's 42nd Ties a Left-Handed Record

Four hits, four RBI, and Billy Williams' number

September 14, 2026 - Chicago - Pete Crow-Armstrong doubled in two in the second and homered in two in the sixth. Four hits. Four RBI. His 42nd homer, a fly ball to right-center off AJ Smith-Shawver. The Associated Press recap said that tied Billy Williams' Cubs record for a left-handed batter, set in 1970. The Chicago Cubs beat the Atlanta Braves 7-3 at Wrigley Field.

Partly cloudy, 69 degrees. Wind 13 mph, right to left. First pitch 6:40 p.m. Attendance 34,515. The game lasted 2 hours, 40 minutes. Chicago led 7-0 after six. Atlanta scored three in the seventh and loaded the bases in the ninth. Ronald Acuña Jr. hit into a game-ending double play. That was the closest the Braves got to turning a 7-0 into a problem.

The Cubs are 84-67. They have won three of four and sit a half-game ahead of idle Philadelphia for the top National League wild card, the AP recap said. Crow-Armstrong has 102 RBI, over 100 for the first time in three full seasons. Atlanta is 88-63 and still the club Chicago has to keep answering in September.

Three in the second, two in the third, López gone

Reynaldo López (4-5) lasted three innings in his second start since coming off the injured list. Six hits. Five runs. Two walks. Two strikeouts. 62 pitches. The AP recap called it his second rough start back. Wrigley treated it like a night that did not need him to last.

Ian Happ doubled to start the traffic in the second. Nico Hoerner reached. Pedro Ramírez reached. Carson Kelly grounded into a force, Happ scoring. 1-0. Crow-Armstrong doubled to the right-field corner, Hoerner and Kelly scoring. 3-0. His seventh four-hit game this season was already in motion, the AP recap said, and the inning was only half over on the scoreboard.

Michael Busch walked in the third and scored on Hoerner's single to right. 4-0. Michael Conforto doubled Hoerner home. 5-0. López was done. Smith-Shawver threw five innings after him, four hits, two runs, the Crow-Armstrong homer, three walks, two strikeouts. He kept it from becoming 12-0. He did not keep it from becoming 7-0.

Peterson through six, then Yaz in the seventh

David Peterson (8-8) went six: three hits, one run, three walks, seven strikeouts, 85 pitches. The AP recap said he struck out Matt Olson three times and that this was his 13th start with Chicago since the June trade from the Mets. He is 5-2 in a Cubs uniform. Atlanta put three singles on him and still scored once.

Crow-Armstrong's two-run shot in the sixth, Kelly aboard, made it 7-0. Right-center. 42. The number that matched Williams. The bleachers in right had the souvenir. Peterson left with the lead he had been handed in the second.

Javier Assad inherited the seventh and did not keep it clean. Michael Harris II scored on Sean Murphy's forceout. Mike Yastrzemski pinch-hit and homered to center, his 10th, Murphy scoring. 7-3. Two runs. One swing. The 7-0 cushion became a 7-3 game that still had two innings.

Ryan Rolison threw a scoreless eighth. Ryan Zeferjahn loaded the bases in the ninth. Acuña bounced into the double play. Wrigley exhaled. Atlanta had eight hits, including two each from Harris, Mauricio Dubón, and Drake Baldwin, and still lost by four.

A half-game up, and Gausman on Tuesday

Hoerner went 2-for-4 with a run batted in and two runs. Kelly scored twice. Happ doubled and walked. Busch walked twice and stole a base. Crow-Armstrong did the rest of the damage you will remember. Four hits. A double. A homer. A stolen base. Zero strikeouts.

Atlanta's best inning was the seventh, and it still started from 7-0. Yastrzemski's pinch-hit homer was the loudest swing the visitors had. Olson's three strikeouts were the other version of the same night. A club at 88 wins can lose a Monday at Wrigley and still look like a playoff team. It cannot keep handing Peterson a five-run lead in the third.

Tuesday is Martín Pérez (8-9, 3.08) against Kevin Gausman (9-12, 4.60), the AP recap said. Chicago is a half-game up on Philadelphia for the top wild card. Crow-Armstrong is tied with a Hall of Famer for a left-handed homer record. Those two sentences are why a 7-3 on a 10-game Monday still needed a recap.

AthX Engine after the baseball

AthX Engine (our projection and scoring system) put Crow-Armstrong at 15 hitting fantasy points and Peterson at 21 pitching FP. Hoerner and Kelly had 5 hitting FP each. Chicago finished with 14 team FP, tied for second on Monday. Atlanta finished at minus-2.

Fantasy points measure the night under platform scoring rules. Share prices also move with traders through dynamic pricing. They are related. They are not the same number.

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*Sources: ESPN recap and box score, MLB.com Gameday wrap, MLB.com schedule, and AthX Engine scoring. Information only; not financial advice.*