Chicago Cubs: Jorge Soler, Javier Baez go yard in 10-9 loss to Seattle

On the day veteran southpaw, Jon Lester made his spring debut, Jorge Soler and Javier Baez each went yard for the Chicago Cubs in the 10-8 loss to Robinson Cano and the Seattle Mariners Wednesday afternoon.

The Cubs have found themselves in a bit of a skid, sitting with a record of 1-8 following today’s loss. Lester took the majority of the punishment, surrendering three earned runs on seven hits and three strikeouts in only two innings of work.

Skipper Joe Maddon brought in right-hander Ryan Williams who opened the door for closer Hector Rondo by pitching two scoreless innings.

Seattle, as mentioned before, took it to Lester starting with Stefen Romero‘s two-run double with one out in the bottom of the first. Adam Lind extended it to a three-run lead on the second RBI double of the inning to score Romero from second.

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Soler helped spark this offense an inning later by hammering his first home run of the spring to right center. The Cuban-born right fielder will be coming off the bench for the Cubs in 2016 following the signing of Dexter Fowler.

He was originally penciled in as the starter until the move with Dexter was complete, resulting in Gold Glover Jason Heyward moving back to his primary slot on the depth chart.

There’s a good chance that team’s across the league will be getting in touch with both Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer about acquiring his talents. Another man who may be brought up in trade talks will be infielder Javier Baez.

Baez, with the Cubs trailing 7-4, drilled a solo homer to left-center field off pitcher Emilio Pagan, bringing Arismendy Alcantara along with him. Alcantara had himself an RBI single earlier on in the game which tied things at three apiece.

As both bullpens continued to battle, Chicago gained their first lead of the game in the top of the eighth thanks to Ryan Kalish and Matt Clark. Kalish drove in a run via the sacrifice fly while Matt Clark knocked in Willson Contreras on an RBI double.

However, one run would not be enough to put away the Mariners. Both Andury Acevedo and Felix Pena combined for three earned runs on only one hit with the damage coming in the form of base on balls.

Felix gave up the tying run on a bases-loaded walk that was drawn by Daniel Robertson. Jesus Montero sealed the deal with a two-run single to left, scoring Chris Taylor and Shawn O’Malley to make it 10-8.

Next up for the Cubs will see John Lackey making his team debut against a split-squad Robert Stephenson. First pitch is scheduled for 2:05 p.m. central time.

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