Not once but twice!
Juan Soto’s long-awaited Citi Field breakout finally arrived, but it wasn’t the storybook moment Mets fans were hoping for.
After going 56 at-bats without a home run in his new home park, Soto went deep twice on Thursday afternoon, delivering his first two Citi Field blasts in a Mets uniform. But despite his heroics, New York dropped its third series of the season, falling 4-2 to the Arizona Diamondbacks in front of 36,239 fans.
The homers were Soto’s 13th and 14th at Citi Field, the first 12 coming when he wore the colors of the opposition. But this time, in Mets orange and blue, his breakout felt different. It was supposed to be a fairytale moment, the climax of a frustrating chapter of Juan Soto’s homer-less run at Citi Field, but it turned out to be a dismal loss as Soto’s homers remained the only two runs the Mets scored.
Soto, who entered the day with three home runs in 31 games, finally showed flashes of the power the Mets had banked on when they signed him to a whopping $765 million contract. His sixth-inning opposite-field blast cut Arizona’s lead to 2-1 and sparked brief hope in the dugout, where Starling Marte welcomed him back with a sunflower shower. He would homer again later, a solo shot, but that would be it for the Mets offense.
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While the two bombs lifted Soto’s OPS to .822, it’s still 167 points shy of his 2024 output with the Yankees. Yet, when asked whether the performance lifted any weight off his shoulders, Soto brushed off the suggestion.
“What pressure? I don’t have any pressure,” Soto said. “Mendoza has been really clear with me to make me feel comfortable and go on out there and play. I don’t have any pressure at all. It’s just two homers that weren’t enough to get the win.”
The Mets (21-11) have now lost two in a row at home, a rare occurrence this season. In fact, it’s the first time since July 27-28 of last year that they’ve dropped consecutive games at Citi Field. Despite the pair of defeats, they still hold a strong 13-3 home record.
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As the calendar turns and the spotlight on Juan Soto only intensifies, the Mets will hope that Soto’s long-awaited Citi Field eruption was more than a brief flash (history suggests that it won’t be just a brief flash and the start of what can be yet another offensive brilliant season) and that the next time he puts the team on his back, the result is different.
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