WASHINGTON — Juan Soto, the Washington Nationals’ 19-year-old slugging sensation, reaffirmed his arrival in the big leagues on Monday evening with a booming, pinch-hit, two-run homer in his first major-league at-bat.
Wait, what?
Welcome to a weird, warped baseball tale, where the Yankees split two games: first falling to a 5-3 defeat more than a month in the making — beginning on May 15 when their game here was suspended by rain with the score tied in the sixth inning — and then hanging on for a 4-2 victory over the Nationals in the nightcap.
In the second game, which was a makeup of a game that was washed out on May 16, the Yankees got a two-run homer from Aaron Hicks, four hits from a slumping Giancarlo Stanton and a clutch relief performance from Jonathan Holder, but their victory was not secured until right fielder Aaron Judge ran down Trea Turner’s drive at the warning track with the tying runs on base.