I heard the sound of eating and running three months ago, and it's not a waste anymore, is it? One shot from Soto's chance, the best as a baseball player

Sep 02, 2025

I heard the sound of eating and running three months ago, and it's not a waste anymore, is it? One shot from Soto's chance, the best as a baseball player
New York Mets Juan Soto is smiling brightly after hitting a grand slam in the top of the fourth inning against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park on the 2nd (Korea time). ImagesYonhap News



I heard the sound of eating and running three months ago, and it's not a waste anymore, is it? One shot from Soto's chance, the best as a baseball player
Juan Soto hits a grand slam to the right-center in the top of the fourth inning, trailing 2-3. ImagesYonhap News
At the end of the pennant race, the bat of the highest-paid superstar is emitting fire every day.

New York Mets Juan Soto hit his second grand slam and his first triple of the season, pouring out six RBIs. He set a tie for the most RBIs in a game, giving his team a valuable victory at an important time.

Soto played as the second right fielder in an away game against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park on the 2nd (Korea time) and led the team to a 10-8 victory by swinging the bat with two hits, six RBIs, two runs and two walks in three at-bats, including a bases-loaded walk.




With Soto on its back, the Mets held the first of three consecutive away games against Detroit, the AL's strongest, and marked 74 wins and 64 losses, keeping second place in the NL East and third place in the wild card. The Mets are four games ahead of the Cincinnati Reds in fourth place in the wild card, so unless something unexpected happens, the Mets will play fall baseball again this season.

Soto is leading the rise of the Mets in the second half of the year.

I heard the sound of eating and running three months ago, and it's not a waste anymore, is it? One shot from Soto's chance, the best as a baseball player
Juan Soto, who hit a grand slam in the fourth inning and entered the dugout, poses with his teammates. AP Yonhap News
Soto has had four homers, 11 RBIs and seven runs in his last four games. He hit two hits, one walk, two RBIs and two runs in three at-bats against the Miami Marlins on the 30th of last month, and hit two hits, two walks, three RBIs and three runs in two at-bats against Miami on the 31st.




With this, Soto marked a batting average of 0.257 (124 hits in 483 at-bats), 36 home runs, 90 RBIs, 104 runs, 113 walks, 26 steals, a on-base percentage of 0.397, a slugging percentage of 0.518, an OPS of 0.915, a bWAR (5.3), and an fWAR (4.7).

In the NL home run category, he ranked third after Philadelphia Phillies Kyle Schwarber (49) and LA Dodgers Shohei Ohtani (45) and ranked fourth in RBIs, second in runs scored, first in walks, and ninth in stolen bases. Within the team, he is the leader in most offensive items such as home runs, runs, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, and OPS.

Soto also surpassed Mickey Mantle with a mark of 116 games, the most in the game where he had a home run and a walk before the age of 27. In other words, Soto, who was born in October 1998, has posted home runs and walks in 116 total games so far, exceeding the 115 games Mantle built before the age of 27.




I heard the sound of eating and running three months ago, and it's not a waste anymore, is it? One shot from Soto's chance, the best as a baseball player
Juan Soto hits a home run in the fourth inning and is vigorously making a break with his teammates in the dugout. AFP Yonhap News
Soto turned the tide 6-3 in the top of the fourth inning when he fired a cannon to the right with two outs and a full base. At the ball count of 1B2S, he pulled an 81.2 mile curve that fell into the middle of Charlie Morton's fourth pitch, flew at an angle of 32 degrees and 108 miles, and stuck it 419 feet behind the right-center fence.

It is the first time in about two years that Soto hit a grand slam since an away game against the Oakland Athletics on Sept. 18, 2023, when he was with the San Diego Padres. At that time, he had three hits, two home runs, and six RBIs in five at-bats, including a grand slam. Six RBIs is a career-high tie.

Soto's bat didn't stop here. When he hit a triple in the top of the sixth inning with one out and runners on the first and second bases, he called in both players and widened the gap to 8-6 again. Drew Sommers pulled a 92.6-mile sinker on his second pitch and hit a ball on the right-field line before running to third base.

I heard the sound of eating and running three months ago, and it's not a waste anymore, is it? One shot from Soto's chance, the best as a baseball player
Soto hits a right-center grand slam in the top of the fourth inning, hits a home run, and then haves with his teammates who came in first.

Imagn Images Yonhap News
It is now difficult to accuse Soto of failing to pay the ransom. When Soto signed a 15-year, 765 million-dollar FA contract last winter, the largest in sports history, and wore a Mets uniform, fans questioned whether they would be able to do as much (41 home runs, 109 RBIs, 128 runs, OPS 0.989) as they did at the New York Yankees last year, and actually suffered a slump for two months in April and May, drawing considerable criticism. By May, his OPS was 0.770.

However, after May, he put his batting condition on track and selected NL 'June player (11 home runs, 20 RBIs, 25 points, OPS 1.196)' and continues to rise more clearly in the second half of the year. He has a batting average of 0.288 (30 hits in 104 at-bats) with 11 homers, 28 RBIs and 29 runs scored in 29 games since August.

After the game, Soto said "The team that does well in September ends up in the postseason. These are the same moments as today. It's a time when we have to get hot. "The best thing you can do as a baseball player is to show up at the clutch moment and help the team win."

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said of Soto's recent performance `Wow, it's really impressive. I don't think anyone will be surprised, but if you see what Soto does every day for a long time, you'll say, 'Wow, this player drags the team on his back.' That's exactly what Soto does," he said, giving compliments.

As Soto hit a grand slam in the fourth inning and circled the base, 38,912 Detroit fans booed. However, Soto stepped on the home cheerfully regardless and continued to make high-fives with Jeff McNeil, Cedric Mullins and Luis Torrens, who scored first. After moving to the dugout, he made a loftive with Pete Alonso. Soto said "I only focus on the game. There's a lot of sounds coming out of the stands, but I just listen and try to focus on the game"I took it lightly.





This article was translated by Naver AI translator.