Juan Soto's grand slam and six RBIs lead Mets past Tigers
Juan Soto of the Mets watches his fourth-inning grand slam in front of Dillon Dingler of the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park on Monday in Detroit. Credit: Getty Images/Gregory Shamus
DETROIT — This is why you pay a guy $765 million.
Juan Soto took the Mets on his back on Monday, hitting a go-ahead grand slam and — after the Mets led that lead get away — adding a tiebreaking two-run triple.
This time the Mets held on to their Soto-built lead and went on to a 10-8 victory over the Tigers at Comerica Park.
“It’s pretty impressive,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “I don’t think anybody’s surprised by it, but when you see it day in and day out for a long period of time, this guy can put a team [on his back] and carry [it], and that’s what he’s doing.”
Soto struggled with runners in scoring position for the first four months of his Mets career. Since Aug. 1, he’s 11-for-26 (.423) with three home runs and a 1.446 OPS in those situations.
“This is the moment,” Soto said. “Whoever gets hot in September is the guy, is the team who goes all the way. You can see it really with the teams that have been winning lately — they’re really hot in September. So I think this is the right time to get hot.”
Soto’s first Mets grand slam (and second of his career) gave the Mets a 6-3 lead in the fourth inning over the team with the American League’s best record.
But Sean Manaea allowed two runs in the bottom of the fourth and Ryne Stanek threw a run-scoring wild pitch in the fifth. So at 6-6, Soto had to do it again.
This time it was a two-run triple in the sixth against lefthander Drew Sommers.
“I feel that’s one of the best things you can do as a baseball player,” Soto said. “[Be] clutch for your team and try to help them win a game.”
Soto scored two batters later on Brandon Nimmo’s two-out single and it was 9-6. Brett Baty added an RBI groundout in the seventh.
This lead the Mets were able to hold. Barely.
Tyler Rogers (scoreless inning), Ryan Helsley (one run in two-thirds of an inning), Brooks Raley (one run in one inning) and Edwin Diaz (perfect 1 1⁄3 innings, 25th save) combined to do just enough out of the bullpen to give the Mets (74-64) the much-needed victory. They remained four games ahead of the Reds for the National League’s third wild card.
The six RBIs tied a career high for Soto, who went 2-for-3 with two walks. In his last four games, baseball’s highest-paid player is 7-for-12 with four home runs, 11 RBIs and four walks.
And boy, did the Mets need all of it. They came to Detroit after losing three of four to the Marlins, and their starting pitching is in disarray.
Manaea, who may have been pitching for his rotation spot, was charged with five runs in 3 2⁄3 innings. He has a 5.60 ERA in 10 appearances (nine starts) since coming off the injured list to start his season on July 13.
Manaea gave up a home run to former Yankee Jahmai Jones (4-for-5) on his first pitch. The Mets took a 2-1 lead on Luis Torrens’ two-run double off Charlie Morton in the second. The Tigers went back in front 3-2 on Wenceel Perez’s two-run homer off Manaea in the third.
Then Soto took over.
In the second inning, Morton had struck him out on a 2-and-2 curve with two men on to end the inning.
In the fourth, again with two outs and with Tigers fans chanting “overrated,” Soto batted with the bases loaded. Morton had just struck out Baty and Francisco Lindor, and Tigers manager AJ Hinch let the 41-year-old righthander go after Soto, too.
He launched a 1-and-2 curve 419 feet into the stands in right-center for a 6-3 Mets advantage.
“Even for his age, his curveball is still really nasty,” Soto said. “I feel like he just made one mistake, and that’s what we are. We hit the mistakes and we try to do damage with it.”
Not only was it Soto’s first Mets grand slam, but his previous 35 homers had either come with no men on base (25) or one man on. He hit his other grand slam while with the Padres against Oakland on Sept. 17, 2023.
“I remember a couple of months into the season and everybody was talking about the struggles of Juan Soto and he was still having, like, an .850 OPS,” Mendoza said. “It’s just now it’s the complete package. It’s pretty impressive.”
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
