In a Yankees win that wasn’t driven just by the bats of Juan Soto and Aaron Judge, Soto still managed to do a good amount of damage to the Rays.
The lefty powerhouse went 3-for-5 with a double, a deep solo home run and a three-run homer in the Yankees’ dominant 9-1 win Monday afternoon.
It was Soto’s 21st multi-homer game of his career and fourth this season, tied with Eddie Mathews for the second-most multi-home run games by a major leaguer at age 25 or younger, trailing only Mel Ott (24).
It was another game that left Carlos Rodon marveling at Soto — who has a 1.008 OPS — on a daily basis.
“I don’t know. I was talking about this the other day with someone,” said Rodon, who delivered seven innings of one-run ball. “I’m like ‘What? What do you think it feels like to be Juan Soto? Is it like when you’re in high school and you’re getting .450 or when you’re in college and it’s pretty easy, you’re hitting .350 and a bunch of homers?’ I don’t know. … It’s still a challenge, right? He just makes it look easy. Baseball is ups and downs. He has some downs, but he swings the bat so well.”
Soto’s first homer — on an 0-2 pitch — went 424 feet right down the right-field line and into the upper deck to give the Yankees a 6-1 lead in the seventh inning.
He stood at home and tried to use some body language to keep it fair as it basically crossed over the top of the foul pole before an overly deliberate trot around the bases.
“I was just trying to make sure it was a fair ball. Literally pulling with everything that I have to stay fair, so definitely it was fun to see it and definitely got the homer,” Soto said.
Soto added a three-run laser shot of a homer in the eighth.
“The first one was really far. The second one was really hard and low. So, you know, a little treat of both,” Rodon said. “High launch and low launch and just a great great hitter, a great player.”
Soto had the last two of the Yankees’ five homers as Austin Wells and Anthony Volpe — breaking a two-month homer drought — went back-to-back in the second inning and DJ LeMahieu recorded his first home run of the season in the fifth.
“Yeah it’s always great to see those guys doing what they do best,” Soto said. “They swing the bat well. We all need all those guys the other day. It’s going to take more than two guys to go to the World Series and win it.”