PITTSBURGH (AP) — For the first time in more than 100 years, the Chicago Cubs stole eight bases in a game as they ran wild Monday night against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Cubs last had eight steals in 1913.
Rookie center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong led the way with three stolen bases. That raised his season total to 26 in 93 games. Crow-Armstrong has only been caught once this year.
“I think we’ve done a good job all year of going into it with the mindset of being aggressive on the bases,” Crow-Armstrong said. “Against these guys, we’ve had a pretty good plan and you saw it today because guys were very aggressive.”
Ian Happ added two steals and Nico Hoerner, Cody Bellinger and Seiya Suzuki had one each. All eight steals came in eight attempts against catcher Yasmani Grandal. Pirates starter Mitch Keller was on the mound for seven steals during his four innings.
Chicago entered the game eighth in the major leagues in stolen bases with 112.
The Cubs led 11-2 after six innings and won 18-8.
“There wasn’t a lot that went right tonight, so I don’t know if I would highlight the stolen bases as being the issue,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “But, yeah, we’ve got to do a better job of holding runners.”
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