Juan Soto launches two home runs as Yankees sweep Giants to cap successful West Coast road trip.
Juan Soto launches two home runs as Yankees sweep Giants to cap successful West Coast road trip
The Yankees swept the San Francisco Giants on Sunday with a 7-5 come-from-behind win to cap a 7-2 West Coast road trip.
Here are the takeaways…
-Already having an amazing season filled with signature moments in pinstripes, Juan Soto added to his highlight reel on Sunday afternoon. With his team down a run in the ninth (thanks to Anthony Volpe’s RBI triple right before him) Soto stepped up to the plate and on San Francisco’s closer Camilo Doval’s second offering of the at-bat, launched a two-run shot to right center field that flipped the script and gave the Yankees, who began the inning down 5-3, a 6-5 lead.
The home run was Soto’s 17th of the season and second of the game after the right fielder began the scoring with a solo shot in the first inning to the deepest part of the ballpark that traveled 430 feet. He finished 3-for-5 and raised his AL-leading batting average to .322. His 1.031 OPS is also second in all of baseball, behind only his teammate Aaron Judge (1.075).
Even if Soto hadn’t come through like he has so often this season, New York would’ve likely been content with a 6-3 road trip out West and eager to get back to Yankee Stadium. Instead, Soto called game and the Yankees completed the sweep of the Giants to get their MLB-leading 42nd win of the season.
-The top five hitters in New York’s lineup (Volpe, Soto, Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Alex Verdugo had nine of the team’s 11 hits and drove in all seven runs, including Stanton’s ground-rule double following Soto’s blast (and a walk to Judge plus a stolen base) to extend the Yanks lead to 7-5.
Verdugo also had a huge two-run double in the fifth inning that tied the game at 3-3 after starter Nestor Cortes gave up the lead procured by Soto.
-Cortes struggled in this one, despite allowing just three earned runs and striking out seven. The lefty was done after 4.1 innings after allowing seven hits and getting hit hard in the process. Of the seven hits allowed by Cortes, six of them came off the bat with exit velocities greater than 101 mph. Cortes also allowed four extra-base hits, including two home runs — solo shots by Casey Schmitt and Heliot Ramos.
