Jorge Soler homers twice as Cubs roll over St. Louis

The Chicago Cubs pounded four home runs and Kyle Hendricks turned in six strong innings at the club rolled to a 7-2 win over the playoff-hopeful St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium.

More from Chicago Cubs News

• Cubs need to walk the walk this winter after talking the talk
• Alec Mills shocked Cubs fans, baseball world with 2020 no-hitter
• Cubs: After season of adjustments, Seiya Suzuki primed for monster 2023
• Projecting the 2023 Cubs Opening Day lineup
• Cubs: 2022 season a ‘success,’ according to Tom Ricketts

Chicago (60-74) trailed 2-1 in the top of the seventh, when recently-promoted prospect Jorge Soler led off with a solo blast to dead center against St. Louis starter Shelby Miller. The rookie outfielder followed that up with an even more impressive blast in the top of the eighth – a two run blast that made it a 6-2 Cubs lead.

Soler went 3-for-4 with the two home runs, driving in three runs – raising his average on the season to a staggering .636 in three games.

Miller allowed just two earned runs in seven innings of work for the Cardinals.

Soler’s second blast was preceded by a double by Javier Baez that scored Logan Watkins and Chris Coghlan that pushed the Chicago lead to 4-2 against St. Louis reliever Pat Neshek (6-1, 1.45 ERA).

Arismendy Alcantara hit a solo shot in the ninth to add one more run to the Cubs’ lead, sealing the victory for the visiting club.

Hendricks allowed two runs in six innings of work, scattering five hits and striking out three. Neil Ramirez (2-1, 1.05 ERA) earned the win, pitching a scoreless seventh inning for Chicago.

St. Louis (71-62) struck out four times in the ninth against Justin Grimm, making the right-hander the seventh pitcher in Cubs history to accomplish the feat.