Juan Soto hit numerous home runs during his relatively brief MLB career.
On Tuesday, he did something he’s never done at the MLB level: hit three home runs in a single game. Soto torched White Sox pitchers 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 starting pitcher Jonathan Cannon got the better of Soto in his first at-bat. Soto was tagged 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 ball hanging over the heart of the plate, and Soto might just pay for it. Soto threw the ball off the end of his bat for an opposite-field home run that went into the bullpen over 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 and tipped the score in his favor to make it 3-1. Cannon’s fifth pitch at bat was a straight shot that caught the outside of the plate. Soto went to the opposite field again, this time sending the ball into the left-center field bleachers.
In Soto’s fourth at-bat, Cannon was out. This time, Soto faced White Sox reliever Fraser Ellard with the Yankees leading 3-0 after his previous two at-bats.
Ellard wasn’t having any better luck. He worked Soto to a full count on five pitches. His sixth was a 95-mph fastball that stayed high and on the inside corner. Soto turned and launched the ball into the right-field bleachers for his third home run 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 he gave it his all to hit his fourth home run in a 3-0 count.
Soto finished the night going 3-for-4 with three homers, three runs scored, four RBIs and a walk.
After a season or so of relatively low production with the San Diego Padres, Juan Soto is back in form in New York among the best hitters in baseball. He started the season hitting .302/.431/.586 with 30 homers and 82 RBIs in 116 games.
He’s now added three more home runs while batting past Aaron Judge as one half of baseball’s most dangerous tandem.