Within the battle of Juan Soto vs. the gamers he was traded for, it was a reasonably even battle till the top.
C.J. Abrams went 3-for-4 with two doubles, a house run, two RBI and two runs scored for the Washington Nationals, whereas Soto hit his fourth dwelling run in 10 video games in opposition to his former group and helped his present group tie the sport within the backside of the eighth.
In the end, Soto and his present group gained the primary spherical with a 5-4 walk-off win Tuesday evening at Citi Subject. Jeff McNeil drove within the successful run, ripping the primary pitch he noticed from Cole Henry down the left discipline line to attain Luisangel Acuña, the automated runner within the backside of the tenth.
“I was just looking for anything like to hit to the right side,” McNeil mentioned. “Wasn’t trying to do too much. I feel like they were trying to go maybe hard away. Kind of cheating for something out there, and just trying to hook the ball to the right side. It got down.”
With the win, the Mets (43-24) at the moment are 5.0 video games forward of the Philadelphia Phillies within the NL East and moved to 10-4 in opposition to division groups. They’re a season-best .19 video games over .500 and have the second-most walk-offs in baseball with six.
“We’re never out of any game,” McNeil mentioned. “This is a good group of guys and we’re playing well, and it’s a lot of fun. We have a lot of confidence in each other and we’re going to keep it going.”
Down 4-2 within the eighth with two outs, Starling Marte went down 0-2 to Jose A. Ferrer earlier than coming again to work the depend full and draw a stroll on the seventh pitch. Soto lined a double to proper that bounced off the glove of Robert Hassell III, permitting Marte to come back dwelling simply. Pete Alonso then drove one to the left discipline nook to attain Soto, however was thrown out making an attempt to stretch a single right into a double.
It was Marte’s stroll that arrange the comeback.
“That’s a 12-year veteran at-bat right there,” Soto mentioned. “I think he did a really good job. He stayed on his plan. Everybody wants to come through in that situation, but he stayed patient and gave myself and Pete another chance to go through.”
Edwin Diaz got here via by retiring the Nats so as within the prime of the ninth to provide the Mets an opportunity to win, and Reed Garrett did the identical within the prime of the tenth.
Griffin Canning was hit proper from the beginning, however recovered later in his outing to pitch into the sixth inning. The suitable-hander allowed 4 earned runs on seven hits, walked two and struck out 4 over 5 1/3 innings, with Jose Butto stranding a runner after getting two outs within the sixth to maintain him out of bother.
Abrams led off the sport with a double, and with one out, Nathaniel Lowe hit an 0-1 slider into the fitting discipline seats for a house run. The Nationals took an early 2-0 lead. That was across the time Alonso got here to Canning and advised the pitcher the lineup would choose him up.
McNeil prolonged his on-base streak to 13 video games with an RBI single within the backside of the primary to chop the lead in half, however the Nats upped the result in 3-1 within the second with one other RBI double by Abrams. With two on and two out, Abrams doubled down the fitting discipline line, scoring Alex name. However Jose Tena was waved round third simply as Soto recovered the ball and threw a strike to Luis Torrens at dwelling. Torrens bought the tag down to finish the inning and forestall any additional injury.
Soto hit a two-out solo shot off right-hander MacKenzie Gore within the third to convey the Mets to inside one run of tying, with the 2 exchanging phrases whereas he circled the bases.
“We were just saying hi to each other,” Soto mentioned.
However then Abrams made it 4-2 together with his homer within the fifth.
Gore continued his sturdy season by limiting the Mets to 2 earned runs over seven innings, placing out six. Abrams and Gore had been each a part of the prospect bundle that went to Washington in trade for Soto and Josh Bell when the Nationals traded the fitting fielder to the San Diego Padres in 2022. Hassell II was additionally in that group, as was James Wooden, who performed left discipline and hit second Tuesday evening.
That commerce jumpstarted the rebuild that was began in 2021 when the Nats despatched Max Scherzer and Trea Turner to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Washington did extraordinarily effectively in these trades, with eight gamers they acquired at the moment on their roster.
The Nationals (30-36) are nonetheless rebuilding, however they’re going to make life robust for the NL East groups with the way in which they’re growing expertise.
And Soto will proceed to make life troublesome for the division as effectively, tormenting opposing pitchers for the following 15 years.
“Our lineup is deep,” mentioned supervisor Carlos Mendoza. “It’s versatile; lefties, righties, power [and] contact. There’s a lot of different ways we can beat teams. But I think the pitching — the bullpen — keeping us there and giving the offense a chance is always a good feeling.”
Initially Printed: June 10, 2025 at 10:17 PM EDT
