Soto ends Citi Field homer drought by hitting 2 in Mets’ loss to Diamondbacks

NEW YORK (AP) — Carlos Mendoza wasn’t worried about Juan Soto after the New York Mets’ star slugger didn’t homer in his first 15 home games at Citi Field.

More importantly, neither was Soto.

The Mets’ $765 million man hit his first two homers at home on Thursday — but those were the only runs for New York in a 4-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

“It’s always good to see it,” Mendoza said. “We knew he was close.”

Soto had 12 homers in 35 games as a visiting player at Citi Field, but entered Thursday hitting just .241 in 54 at-bats at home this season. He also had 10 walks to go along with eight strikeouts and four doubles — as well as a second-deck foul ball into the right field seats that was initially called fair against the Philadelphia Phillies on Apr. 21. Soto completed his home run trot before umpires overturned the call.

“Try not to expand or anything like that — try to see the ball well, if I’ve got to take my walk, I’ll take my walk,” Soto said. “I’m not in a rush to hit a homer or to hit game-tying hits.”

Soto was hitless with three walks in his first 11 plate appearances of the three-game series against Arizona, but five of the first eight balls he put into play were hit 101 mph or harder and another had an exit velocity of 98.9 mph.

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Both of Soto’s opposite-field homers Thursday — in the sixth off Zac Gallen and in the eighth off Kevin Ginkel — had exit velocities lower than his 110.1 mph first-inning groundout to short.

“Yeah, he’s hitting balls on the ground, but now, finally, not only hitting balls in the air, but when he’s going in that direction — left-center — he’s a pretty dangerous hitter,” Mendoza said. “It was good to see that today.”

Among big-name Mets additions over the past 30-plus years, only Bobby Bonilla (22 games in 1992) went longer without hitting his first homer at home. Carlos Beltran homered in his 13th home game in 2005, while Soto’s current teammate Francisco Lindor went deep for the first time in his 11th homer game in 2021.

“I don’t have any pressure,” Soto said. “These guys (and) Mendoza have been really clear with me, to make me feel comfortable going out there and playing.

“I don’t have any pressure at all. It’s just two homers that weren’t enough to get the win.”

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb