New York Mets slugger Juan Soto eventually ended up at second base after a leadoff hit in the sixth inning on Monday, but how he got there displeased his manager.
Soto belted a pitch by Red Sox left-hander Justin Wilson high to left field, then stood at home plate for a few moments before trotting toward first base. The ball hit off Boston’s 37-foot-high “Green Monster” wall, and Soto managed only a single.
The fact that he subsequently stole second base wasn’t enough to make manager Carlos Mendoza forgive the lack of hustle on the hit.
“We’ll talk to him about it,” Mendoza said after the Mets’ 3-1 loss. “Tonight, obviously, if someone gets a hold of one and knows when he gets it, it’s Juan. He thought he had it. With the wind and all that, in this ballpark — anywhere, in any one, but particularly in this one with that wall right there — you’ve got to get out of the box.
“Yeah, we’ll discuss that.”
Soto said, “I hit it pretty hard. It’s a really short Green Monster. I tried to get to second, but it wasn’t enough.”
Soto added when queried whether he should have run harder, “I think I’ve been hustling pretty hard. If you saw it today, you could tell.”
A 1-for-4 game at Boston followed a notable weekend for Soto at Yankee Stadium, where he squared off with his 2024 team for the first time. Soto went 1-for-10 with no RBIs as the Mets lost two of three to the New York Yankees.
In his past eight games, Soto is 4-for-29 (.138) with no homers and one RBI. On the season, the four-time All-Star is hitting .246 with a .376 on-base percentage, a .439 slugging percentage, eight homers and 20 RBIs in 47 games.
