Jorge Soler made his Wrigley Field debut this afternoon and the Cubs faithful were happy with what they saw. In addition to a 4-2 win over the Brewers, Soler went 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles and a run scored.
After hearing a big ovation from the home crowd for his first at-bat in the second inning, Soler poked an opposite-field double and eventually came around to score on a bloop single from Welington Castillo. The 22-year-old was later credited with another double in the sixth, this time after hitting the ball off the right-center field wall. He managed to advance to third on the play due to an error by center fielder Gerardo Parra. The Cubs were then given a bit of a scare when Soler was hit in the leg by a line drive off the bat of Castillo, but the 6-foot-4, 215-pounder was fine.
With today’s performance, Soler became the third player in the last 100 years with an extra-base hit in each of his first five games in the majors. Enos Slaughter (1933) and Will Middlebrooks (2012) are the only others. A Hall of Famer and someone who has a .651 OPS since his rookie season. Interesting duo.
Soler is now hitting .526 (11-for-19) with three home runs, four doubles, seven RBI, and a 1.761 OPS over his first five games since his call-up from Triple-A. He’s yet another reason for Cubs fans to be really excited about the future.