How quick? PCA's inside-the-parker is fastest home-to-home time since '17

MIAMI -- Pete Crow-Armstrong wasted no time flashing all the tools that make him an exciting young player, crushing a ball with an exit velocity of 107.1 mph and reaching elite sprint speed while running the fastest home-to-home time of the season.

The Cubs’ center fielder sparked Chicago’s offense with an inside-the-park homer that was one of three home runs the team hit on its way to a 6-3 victory over the Marlins inside loanDepot park on Friday night.

“When I saw the ball kick, I just put my head down, and I started running,” Crow-Armstrong said. “Because at that point, the ball is already behind me, better off putting my head down and going anyways. [Third-base coach] Willie [Harris] and I were on the exact same page.”

Crow-Armstrong led off the top of the third, smacking the first pitch he saw from Marlins starter Max Meyer to deep right field. Miami outfielder Jesús Sánchez hustled toward the line drive, but his outstretched glove could not snare the batted ball and Crow-Armstrong was off to the races.

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While Sánchez’s momentum took him away from the play, the ball bounced on the warning track and ricocheted off the wall as Crow-Armstrong reached a sprint speed of 30.4 feet per second on his way to a game-tying inside-the-park home run.

“As soon as the ball kind of kicked back towards center field, and I think he was probably like halfway around first, then you knew it was a possibility,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “It was one of those plays where you're hoping Willie sent him no matter what, almost. It just felt like it was a play that everybody wanted to see happen in the stadium. And they completed the relay really well and they made it close, but it was fun to watch.”

Crow-Armstrong posted the fastest home-to-home time of the year at 14.08 seconds, which was the fastest time recorded since Byron Buxton ran around the bases in 13.85 seconds on his own inside-the-parker on Aug. 18, 2017.

“I coached Pete when he was 14 years old, I've known Pete for a long time,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “He was just as fast then. He's an incredible athlete. He's a really exciting young player at the Major League level, and can cover some ground in the outfield. He probably ran around in 14 or 15 seconds. I have no idea exactly what it was, but it's got to be one of the fastest times in the league.”

Two batters later, Ian Happ followed with a more traditional home run over the wall in left-center field. The two-run blast gave the Cubs a 3-1 lead in the top of the third inning.

The Marlins answered back, scoring a run in the bottom half of the third on a Jonah Bride RBI single and evening the score when reliever Tyson Miller issued a bases-loaded walk to Kyle Stowers.

But it was Isaac Paredes who came through when the Cubs needed a big hit, delivering a game-winning RBI double in the eighth.

The third baseman, who arrived in a deal with the Rays before the Trade Deadline, was mired in a slump entering the series opener in Miami. Paredes, who was 0-for-3 as he dug into the batter’s box in the top of the eighth, ripped a 1-0 sinker from right-hander Brett de Geus into the left-field corner to score Seiya Suzuki and give the visiting Cubs the lead for good.

“I think it just makes you exhale as much as anything,” Counsell said. “Just do something good and help you win. At the time, it was a huge hit against a tough, hard-throwing sinker baller.”

In the top of the ninth, Miguel Amaya belted the Cubs’ third homer of the game, a two-run shot to center field that secured the three-run victory for Chicago.

“Just a good win,” Counsell said. “The bullpen did a heck of a job. We got some big hits from the bottom of the lineup again. So, it's a great way to start a road trip.”