Soler, Heyward lead Cubs' bats vs. Royals

March 20th, 2016

MESA, Ariz. -- Jason Heyward drove in two runs and Jorge Soler belted a two-run homer in a four-run fifth to power the Cubs to a 5-2 victory Sunday over the Royals in front of a Spring Training record crowd of 15,523 at Sloan Park. The previous high was 15,446, which the Cubs set March 4 in their Cactus League home opener.
Jon Lester's fielding woes continued in his second spring start. The Cubs' left-hander scattered five hits over five innings and struck out four, but his throwing error led to the Royals' go-ahead run.

Dexter Fowler tripled to lead off the Chicago third and scored on Heyward's sacrifice fly. Kris Bryant walked and reached third on Anthony Rizzo's single, but Royals starter Ian Kennedy then struck out Soler to end the inning.

"He was a little frustrated with his command in the first but his command got better and better as he went along," Royals manager Ned Yost said of Kennedy. "I thought he had great life on the fastball."
The Royals tied the game at 1 with one out in the fourth when Paulo Orlando singled, stole second and scored on Reymond Fuentes' double. Fuentes is now batting .367 with seven RBIs this spring.
In the Kansas City fifth, Tony Cruz singled and reached third when Terrance Gore singled and moved up on Rizzo's throwing error. Alcides Escobar hit a comebacker to Lester, whose lob to first pulled Rizzo off the bag for an error. Lester got Mike Moustakas to ground into a double play, but a run scored.
Lester's previous outing was in a Minor League game last Tuesday, and he worked on his fielding at that time.
"It's obviously not what I want to do," Lester said of the error Saturday. "Once again, I didn't move my feet. If I move my feet, I think everything's fine."
Changing his footwork is part of the adjustments the Cubs are trying to get him to do to make his throws more effective.

Heyward's RBI single in the fifth tied the game at 2, Rizzo hit a sacrifice fly and Soler followed with his third Cactus League home run, lining a 1-1 pitch from David Huff onto the left-field berm.
Up Next for Cubs: The Cubs have an off-day Monday, and will resume Cactus League play Tuesday against the Reds in Goodyear. Jason Hammel will get the start then, his fourth. So far, the right-hander has given up one earned run over 10 innings in his previous outings. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. MT, and you can listen to a webcast on Cubs.com.
Up Next for Royals: The Royals will enjoy their first off-day of the spring on Monday and then Chris Young will start on Tuesday at 8:10 CT at Surprise Stadium against the Dodgers. Joakim Soria , Kelvin Herrera and Danny Duffy also are scheduled to pitch that day.