Chicago Cubs News: Cody Bellinger Has First 5-Hit Game in Win Over Oakland

The Chicago Cubs are hitting their early season stride thanks to a few hitters on the team. Dansby Swanson, Ian Happ, and Nico Hoerner are all off to a great start on the year. Do not forget about Cody Bellinger, though. The Cubs signed their center fielder this offseason and he is off to a pretty hot start himself.

Bellinger was once a National League Rookie of the Year and MVP, but he has hit some lows in the past couple of years. Despite this, the Cubs took a chance on the 27-year-old and former Gold Glove winner. As you can see, Bellinger has won his fair share of accolades and has accomplished some amazing things on the baseball field. However, there is one thing Bellinger has never accomplished... until Monday night against the Oakland Athletics.

The Cubs took care of business against Oakland, beating them 10-1 in the series opener Monday night. Plenty of players deserve praise in the win, but Bellinger might deserve the most. The lefty was perfect at the plate in the game. He had five at-bats and tallied a hit in every single one of them. This would be the first time in his career that Bellinger recorded five hits in a game. According to FanGraphs, this is the first time Bellinger has had at least four hits since his MVP season in 2019. Not only is this his first 5-hit game, but this is also the first time Bellinger has not recorded an out when having four or more hits in his career.

Bellinger's five hits were made up of four singles and a double in the onslaught Monday night. What is even more encouraging is the Athletics started a left-handed pitcher. If he can start hitting both lefties and righties, Bellinger will be as dangerous as he was in 2019. The former Silver Slugger has raised his average to above .300 with his performance. Will he keep up this pace? One could only hope, but even if he does fade off a little bit, this hot start has been fun to watch.