Marcus Stroman and the Chicago Cubs got the better of the San Diego Padres on Sunday, as they finished the three-game series with a 7-1 victory. Stroman also had a little fun of his own on the mound when he celebrated his strikeout of Padres star Juan Soto with a shuffle in the fifth inning.
Marcus Stroman struck out Juan Soto, then did his version of the Soto Shuffle.
Soto even seemed to get a laugh out of it. 😅 pic.twitter.com/GLYi6z1aQf
— Darnay Tripp (@DarnayTripp) June 4, 2023
After the game, the Cubs right-hander spoke highly of Soto and said that his celebration was sort of a response to Soto staring him down earlier in the game when he drew four balls off of Stroman for a walk.
“Soto is incredible, man. Everyone sees how I've talked about Soto on social media before. I think he's gonna go down as one the best players to ever play this game. He's an incredibly tough at-bat. He really doesn't swing at anything outside the zone. So, it's always a game, know what I mean,” the Cubs starter said, per Jordan Bastian of MLB.com. “That first inning, he was kind of nodding at me after the walk, so I just put it in my back pocket just in case I punched him out later in the game. And I just so happened to. But that's not easy to do,” added Stroman, who tossed six scoreless innings with six strikeouts to pick up a win for the Cubs versus the Padres.
It is true that Juan Soto is one of the toughest outs in baseball, so striking him out is a minor victory pitchers will always feel so good about. Among all qualified players in the big leagues this season, Soto leads everyone with a 20.3 BB% — heads and shoulders above the rest of the majors.
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