The Tigers, the only American League team with 80 wins, hosted the Mets on Monday and were given a monumental thrashing by Juan Soto, who did not believe in the reputation of his opponents. The Dominican, on a positive streak, once again demonstrated his offensive power and equaled one of his personal records by driving in six runs, more than half of what the New Yorkers scored in the 10-8 win over Detroit.
Soto led the Mets’ offense with the two least common hits of his MLB career: a grand slam and a triple. The first of these came in the fourth inning, with Detroit leading 3-2 on the scoreboard.
Jeff McNeil opened with a double, Cedric Mullins walked and Luis Torrens loaded the bases with a single to first base. Brad Batty and Francisco Lindor were then retired on strikes. With two outs, the burden of producing fell on Soto’s shoulders and the outfielder responded with a 419-foot drive to center field.
Soto had only one grand slam in his MLB career and he hit it in a Padres uniform on September 17, 2023. That day he came with the bases loaded against pitcher Devin Sweet (Athletics) and also disappeared the ball between center and right field.
This does not mean that Soto is a bad hitter with the bases loaded. In fact, in those circumstances he had 80 RBIs, with a batting average of .316, slugging percentage of .456 and OPS of .883 before Monday’s game against Detroit. Now his numbers have improved.
Triple and record
The last time Juan Soto hit a triple was on July 20, 2024, in a game between the Yankees and the Rays. Until Monday, he had gone a total of 196 games and 880 plate appearances without getting a hit of this kind, the worst streak of his career in this regard. But it came to an end at the best possible moment, to give the Mets the lead against the Tigers.
With the game tied at six in the sixth inning and two runners on base, the Dominican hooked a sinker from left-hander Drew Sommers and hit a grounder down the first-base line that went deep into right field. Soto ran hard and reached third to complete the rarest connection of his career, as he has only 16 triples in his 4,693 plate appearances.
Luis Torrens and Francisco Lindor scored on the hit, which set a new personal best for Soto with the Mets. Previously, the most he had driven in with the New York team was four runs. In his last 11 games he has produced 18 runs that have contributed to the awakening of the Queens-based organization.
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