BOX SCORE

Cubs starter Matthew Boyd struggled early in Friday night’s game against the Cincinnati Reds and was dealt some bad breaks during four uneven innings. Cubs bats were inconsistent early but eventually got right.

In a big, big way.

The Cubs took a two-run lead with a huge seventh inning and expanded upon it to secure a 13-6 victory over the Reds in the series opener at Great American Ball Park.

Seiya Suzuki and Dansby Swanson hit home runs. Kyle Tucker had a big hit and so many contributed to this win. But let’s be honest, here: This was the Pete Crow-Armstrong show.

Let’s discuss what can be gleaned from Friday’s result:

Pete Crow-Armstrong is an entertainer (and a superstar)

Baseball players are generally stoic, with rare exception, whether things are going good or bad. Crow-Armstrong has no poker face. The 23-year-old center fielder’s emotions are out there for all to see.

He was frustrated as heck with a pop-up to third. Then he celebrated a 410-foot two-run homer in the fourth, returned to the dugout, and immediately hugged hitting coach Dustin Kelly. And he never once hesitated going for two on a hit to relatively shallow left in the sixth inning.

All that was prelude to his finest hour (of the night). The Cubs were down two runs with the bases loaded when Crow-Armstrong hit a first-pitch bomb off the right-field foul pole for his first-career grand slam. He threw his bat skyward, turned to the Cubs dugout and screamed.

He lifted the Cubs up and once again proved as valuable to his team as anyone. From a production perspective, and as a lightning rod.

Crow-Armstrong plays with exuberance. He puts on a show and clearly cares about the result. He has produced from the No. 7 hole, the leadoff spot and now as a cleanup hitter. Those are all positives for a young, foundational player who has made great strides this season and is a legitimate MVP contender to this point.

Never count these Cubs out

The Cubs were down four runs in the seventh inning after absorbing one body blow after another. Friday’s game seemed like a forgettable one where things just didn’t go right.

Then the offense came alive with a big inning as it’s known to do. Six runs were scored, highlighted by Crow-Armstrong’s grand slam. This was a whole-team contribution, though, with minor moments leading to a big one. Nico Hoerner’s smart base running saved an out. So did Matt Shaw, getting to second to avoid a force out on Ian Happ’s bloop single. Kyle Tucker drove in two runs with a clutch knock.

[WATCH: Cubs’ ‘wild’ rally in the seventh inning]

All that set up a huge Crow-Armstrong moment where the Cubs came through. Again.

While the bullpen takes some just criticism, that unit was good down the stretch to preserve the lead established in that big seventh-inning.

Matthew Boyd couldn’t catch a break

Boyd hadn’t allowed more than three earned runs in any start this season. He gave up that many in the first inning on Friday night. The Reds sent eight guys to the plate, driving Boyd’s pitch count way up and getting on base despite (generally) not hitting the ball hard.

That happened again in the third, though less damage was done. It was one of those nights where Boyd couldn’t seem to catch a break, with uncharacteristic mistakes from Crow-Armstrong, Dansby Swanson, Carson Kelly and even Boyd’s own errant ball flip that gave the Reds a run.

Boyd only completed four innings despite throwing 93 pitches, snapping his streak of three consecutive quality outings. That forced the bullpen to eat up a lot of innings, which isn’t ideal to start a run of six consecutive games.

The rough start put the Cubs in a bind and they were playing from behind until they busted things open in the seventh.