NEW YORK — Juan Soto hit a three-run home run into the middle of the right-field second deck to cap a five-run seventh inning and the New York Yankees rallied to beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-3 on Friday night.
Soto stood at the plate and admired his 409-foot strike over Chris Devenski (0-1), which gave the Yankees a 5-1 lead. Soto is hitting .347 with five home runs and 20 RBIs in his first season with the Yankees.
“I didn’t actually see it because I was admiring the direction it was going,” coach Aaron Boone said of Soto’s celebration. Of the five homers, I think it was the first one he actually stepped on, like where it’s going to land. I was paying attention to that.”
New York is 5-0 when Soto honors. He’s hitting .563 with three home runs and 17 RBIs with runners in scoring position and his last long pass propelled the Yankees to their seventh comeback victory. Soto reached base safely in 12 consecutive games and 18 of the first 20 with the Yankees.
“I’m going to go straight to my plan: try to make a good pitch and try to get the ball to the outfield and try to get these guys inside,” Soto said.
Soto also made a leaping shot off the right field wall to rob Richie Palacios of a potential home run for the bottom of the third.
“I’m not too surprised,” Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt said of Soto. “It’s like every moment is a big game or a big AB. He’s just a special player.”
Issac Paredes hit two runs in the eighth off Ian Hamilton, and Clay Holmes escaped trouble in the ninth for his eighth save in nine chances.
Former Yankees Ben Rortvedt and Yandy Díaz singled, and Randy Arozarena hit a pop fly to shallow center that eluded Aaron Judge, who threw to third for a forced out as teams wondered if an infield fly had been called. – it was not.
“Just a little confusion,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “It’s a difficult decision for the referee. It seems like I think he thought he caught the ball originally.”
Palacios then lined out to shortstop Anthony Volpe, who threw to Gleyber Torres to double Jose Siri into a game-ending double play.
Dennis Santana (1-0) pitched 1 2/3 innings for his first win with the Yankees, who were defeated 14-5.
Palacios, who grew up a Yankees fan and attended Berkeley Carroll School in Brooklyn, homered against Schmidt for a 1-0 lead in the second.
With one out in the seventh, Alex Verdugo hit a grounder that went under the glove of second baseman Curtis Mead. Jose Trevino walked, and Oswaldo Cabrera’s grounder went over Díaz’s glove early on as the equalizer scored. Volpe scored for a 2-1 lead.
“The ball bounced really hard on Yandy, two errors and a walk, you have those types of hitters coming in, they can make you pay and they did,” Cash said.
Tampa Bay starter Tyler Alexander allowed two hits in 5 1/3 scoreless innings. Schmidt gave up seven hits in 5 1/3 innings and threw a career-high 102 pitches.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Rays: OF Josh Lowe (right oblique strain) went 0 for 3 with a walk in his first minor league rehab game for Triple-A Durham.
Yankees: INF DJ LeMahieu (bruised right foot) has had the start of his rehab assignment possibly delayed until next week after an MRI on Thursday showed he was not fully healed.… RHP Nick Burdi (right hip inflammation ) was placed on the injured list after experiencing pain during his ride on Tuesday in Toronto. … RHP Cody Morris was recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre to replace Burdi and OF Taylor Trammell was added to the roster after being claimed off waivers on Thursday.
NEXT
Rays RHP Zach Eflin (1-2, 4.63 ERA) opposes New York LHP Nestor Cortes (1-1, 4.50) on Saturday afternoon following a pregame ceremony to honor the recently retired broadcaster. Yankees radio, John Sterling.
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