Juan Soto has hit a lot of home runs in his relatively brief MLB career.
On Tuesday, he did something he’s never done at the MLB level: He hit three home runs in a single game. Soto torched White Sox pitching with homers in the third, fifth and seventh innings to account for each of the Yankees’ four RBIs in a 4-1 Yankees victory.
White Sox starter Jonathan Cannon got the better of Soto in his first at-bat. Soto grounded out on the second pitch and the White Sox got out of the inning unscathed.
Things took a dramatic turn in the third inning. Cannon left a 94 mph sinker hanging over the heart of the plate, and Soto might pay for it. Soto launched the ball off the butt of his bat for an opposite-field home run that sailed into the bullpen beyond the left-field wall to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead.
Cannon remained on the mound to start the fifth inning. This time, Soto led off the game and made it 3-1. Cannon’s fifth pitch of his at-bat was a cutter that he caught just outside the plate. Soto went to the opposite field again, this time sending the ball into the left-center field bleachers.
By Soto’s fourth at-bat, Cannon was done. This time, Soto faced White Sox reliever Fraser Ellard with a 3-0 Yankees lead secured by his two previous plate appearances.
Ellard fared no better. He got Soto into a full count on five pitches. His sixth was a 95 mph fastball that stayed high and on the inside corner. Soto took advantage of it and launched the ball into the right-field bleachers for his third homer of the game.
The solo shot extended New York’s lead to 4-0.
Soto finished his night with a five-pitch walk in his final at-bat in the ninth inning, but came back to swing for his fourth homer on a 3-0 count.
Soto finished the night 3-for-4 at the plate with three home runs, three runs scored, four RBIs and one walk.
After a season of relatively moderate production with the San Diego Padres, Juan Soto is back in form in New York and is among the most potent hitters in baseball. He entered Tuesday’s game batting .302/.431/.586 with 30 homers and 82 RBIs in 116 games.
He now has three more homers while batting ahead of Aaron Judge as one half of baseball’s most dangerous duo.
