HOUSTON (AP) — After slugging his first home run with the New York Mets on Friday night, Juan Soto insisted he isn’t burdened by the lofty expectations to perform after signing his record deal.
“Just thinking about what we can do and what we can be capable of doing as a team I think it takes all the pressure off,” he said. “Because we are here. We are the New York Mets. I mean we’re not here as the Juan Soto Mets. We’re here as a team.”
Soto's homer helped the Mets to a 3-1 victory over the Houston Astros.
The shot came in the third. With two outs and no one on, Soto drove a 1-2 pitch from Hunter Brown deep to right to give New York a 3-0 lead.
“It was pretty incredible,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “Not easy to do. You’re talking about a pitch that’s out of the strike zone, up and in. I think it’s a cutter 96 and he’s able to turn on it and hit it on a line like that — yeah, amazing.”
The 26-year-old Soto watched the ball as it sailed into the outfield and then slowly started walking toward first base before lightly flipping his bat. The homer traveled 390 feet.
Asked if he knew it was gone right away, Soto grinned and said: “100%.”
His first home run of the season comes after he hit a career-high 41 for the Yankees last season.
“It's always great to have the first one,” he said. “You always want to get the first one out of the way early.”
He smiled slightly as he began to round the bases before pounding his chest and raising both of his hands skyward as he reached home plate.
His big hit came a day after he struck out on a full-count slider from closer Josh Hader that was way outside the strike zone with two on and two out in a 3-1 opening-day loss.
Mendoza wasn't surprised to see Soto bounce back after Thursday's tough ending.
“He’s Juan Soto, he’s gonna come through more times than not,” he said. “What you want is to give him and the guys a chance to win a baseball game. We we did that yesterday and we didn’t get the W. Today, he came in and did what he did. He’s a special player.”
Before that, Soto singled and walked twice Thursday in his Mets debut. The slugger signed a $765 million, 15-year contract as a free agent in December.
Soto struck out on his first at-bat Friday night before homering his second time up.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Kristie Rieken, The Associated Press
