For the first time since Game 5 of the World Series last fall, Juan Soto will play a game at Yankee Stadium.
During the weekend’s Subway Series, the ex-Yank will run out to right field in front of The Bronx’s Bleacher Creatures for the bottom of the first with the Mets. And he’s excited about making his return.
What excites him most? “The crowd,” he said after Wednesday’s game at Citi Field, via MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo.
Even if the Yankees fans boo? “I don’t mind,” Soto answered.
Manager Carlos Mendoza anticipates the slugger, who was given the finale against the Pittsburgh Pirates off ahead of Thursday’s off day, will experience “a lot of emotions.”
“He’s going back, he’s gonna go in there and [remember] good memories,” Mendoza said. “He had a really good year with them, went to the World Series with them, it’ll be exciting.”
As a team, Mendoza said they are “ready to go.”
“It will be an exciting series, two teams playing well, two really good teams, pretty sure it will be fun,” he said.
After a Yanks-Mets matchup during spring training, Soto let slip what he anticipates happening. “You know, Yankees fans, they can surprise you with anything, so I’m expecting the worst,” he said with a laugh.
After signing with the Mets in December, Soto thanked Yankees fans for showing him “all the love” in his lone season in The Bronx during his introductory news conference at Citi Field.
“They were there day in, day out. They really have a spot in my heart at the end of the day,” he said. “Tough we couldn’t get it together and try to be back, and stuff like that, but always going to appreciate what they did for me in 2024.”
Blame it on the rain?
The rain was always going to play a factor on a wet Wednesday at Citi Field. Unfortunately for Clay Holmes, the biggest cloudburst of the game came at a critical moment.
After a nine-pitch first frame, Holmes got two quick outs to start the inning before Isiah Kiner-Falefa yanked a sweeper on the outside corner to left for a single. And that is when the rain went from falling lightly to a bit steadier. Back-to-back sweepers landed in the zone to get ahead of Matt Gorski, before the intensity of the rain increased again.
On the next two pitches, the rain was not the issue, but home plate umpire Carlos Torres called a slider that appeared to be entirely in the zone a ball, and a 1-2 sweeper that was a bit higher was called out of the zone, as well.
“Two calls that we didn’t get there,” Mendoza said. “A full ball in the strike zone and we didn’t get that one, and then another one that clipped the strike zone and we didn’t get that one.”
“Some tough hops here,” Holmes said. “Losing grip on the ball there, trying to make pitches.”
The heavens opened up before Holmes could throw his next pitch. And when he did, the righty uncorked a fastball that went over the batter’s head and hit the backstop on the fly, bouncing all the way back to him.
“At that point, it’s in the umpire’s hands, it’s nothing we could do there,” Mendoza said about getting the game stopped. “Other than create the awareness and get it to their attention, but… it’s their call.”
And after fouling off a sweeper toward the corner, Holmes hung his second 3-2 slider and it was clocked for a 407-foot home run to left through the driving rain.
“I think I went to the slider too many times there, but I thought it was probably the best thing I could control. I ended up getting beat with it,” Holmes said.
“He lost the feel for the ball there,” the manager said. “I’m not trying to make excuses here for him.”
To add insult to injury, after Holmes got the final out, the field was in such a state that the grounds crew needed 10 minutes of work to fix the infield and mound before the home half of the second could begin.
“It was one of those things where you gotta compete through and try to make pitches,” Holmes said. “Unfortunately, I couldn’t make one there.”
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