CHICAGO – He’s one of the few players that remain from the Cubs’ core that brought the team one of their greatest stretches of success in franchise history last decade.
While his future after 2022 is far from set, Willson Contereras is playing like someone ready to lead the next era of the team.
On Monday, he added a little history to his already strong season.
As part of an eight-run first inning against the Pirates on Monday at Wrigley Field, Contreras hit the 100th home run of his career, a grand slam, as the Cubs crushed Pittsburgh 9-0. He becomes just the third catcher in the history of the franchise to reach that mark, joining Gabby Hartnett (231) and Jody Davis (122).
He also joins other members of the Cubs’ previous core he came up with in the 100 homer club with the franchise, joining Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, and Kyle Schwarber.
Conteras also had a double to leadoff that first inning, becoming the first Cubs’ player in the expansion era (since 1961) to have an extra-base hit and a grand slam in the same inning per Elias Sports Bureau. He’s the first to do so overall in franchise history since Wildfire Schulte on August 16, 1911.
The catcher is now hitting .283 with five homers and 14 RBI this season and is up to .342 for the month of May as he continues in the last year of his contract.
Ian Happ, Yan Gomes, and Andrelton Simmons each had RBI hits in that first inning while Rafael Ortega brought home another with a walk before Conteras’ historic slam. That was plenty for Wade Miley, who pitched seven shutout innings with just one hit allowed and seven strikeouts with Michael Rucker finishing the last two innings for the win.