Chicago Cubs get revenge by defeating Royals to end the weekend

With the countdown to Opening Night in Los Angeles shrinking by the day, the Chicago Cubs had another opportunity to get even with the defending World Champs. Outfielder Jorge Soler put the nail in the coffin by launching a two-run homer in a 5-2 win Sunday afternoon on WGN-TV.

Yesterday marked veteran southpaw Jon Lester‘s second appearance of the spring and, this time around, things looked much better. There was word going around that he has bone chips in his left elbow but it doesn’t appear to be something he or the team are concerned about.

In fact, the 32-year-old proved that he was alright on the mound by holding the Kansas City Royals to two runs, one earned on five hits with one walk and four strikeouts through five frames.

He even stepped into the batter’s box where he grounded out to second baseman Raul Mondesi. Yes, son of 1994 National League Rookie of the Year winner Raul Mondesi of the Dodgers.

If he’s anything like his Father, he’s going to be one heck of a baseball player.

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After going 0-for-3 with a strikeout while visiting the Cleveland Indians, Soler’s only hit of the game was his third home run of the spring. It came during the bottom of the fifth inning and brought Jason Heyward around to score with him.

Heyward tied things up at two a piece moments before Soler stepped onto the on-deck circle. An RBI single to right field which scored Juan Perez and moved Dexter Fowler over to third.

The Cubs entered the day 11 players light following roster cuts that were made on Saturday. One being right-hander Carl Edwards Jr. who made his big league debut in St. Louis last season.

Edwards has been moved from the starting rotation to the bullpen throughout his minor league career, so where he’ll end up on the depth chart remains a mystery. He has started 55 games out of 97 appearances while working out of the pen in five for the Cubbies in 2015.

There’s a good chance that he’ll continue to do rotate as a member of the Triple-A Iowa Cubs. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing when it comes to depth.

Joe Maddon currently has Travis Wood, Trevor Cahill, Clayton Richard and possibly Dallas Beeler who were once in the five-man roster only to be moved to the bullpen. Either way, he’s going to have a spot on this team in the future.

Here are a few more stories you may have missed over the weekend:

‘Cubs: Lester says bone chip is a “non-issue”‘

‘Cubs: Arrieta ready to pick up where he left off‘

‘Cubs: Where does Edwards fit in?‘

‘Cubs: Andreoli will make a valuable bench player‘

‘Cubs: 11 players cut including Candelario, Contreras‘