Juan Soto hit two homers Wednesday night for the host New York Mets, who ended their drought against the Atlanta Braves by cruising to a 7-3 victory in the third game of a four-game series.
Ronny Mauricio also homered for the Mets, who won for just the second time in their last 12 games. New York entered Tuesday 0-5 against the Braves since June 17.
Drake Baldwin homered in the fourth while Ronald Acuna Jr. had a two-run single in the ninth for the Braves, who fell to 10-12 this month.
Mauricio and Baldwin swapped homers in consecutive half-innings before Soto put the Mets ahead for good in the bottom of the fourth. His leadoff round-tripper off Braves starter Didier Fuentes (0-2) sparked a five-run outburst for a 6-1 lead.
Starling Marte produced a sacrifice fly and Brett Baty had an RBI single before Francisco Lindor and Brandon Nimmo greeted reliever Aaron Bummer with a sacrifice fly and a run-scoring single, respectively.
Soto went deep again in the seventh to cap his fourth two-homer game of the season and 27th multi-homer game of his career — the most multi-homer games in MLB history for a player before turning 27. Soto, who won’t be 27 until Oct. 25, broke a record he held with Jimmie Foxx.
Mauricio had a career-high three hits while Baty and Jeff McNeil finished with two hits apiece. McNeil, a natural infielder, also robbed Marcell Ozuna of a likely two-run homer with a leaping catch at the wall in the first.
Clay Holmes (8-4) went five innings and allowed one run on three hits and four walks while striking out two.
Brandon Waddell, Jose Butto and Ryne Stanek each tossed a scoreless inning before the Braves scored twice in the ninth against Jonathan Pintaro, who was making his major league debut. With two on, Edwin Diaz retired Ozuna on a fielder’s choice to earn his 16th save.
Fuentes, a 20-year-old who is the youngest player in the majors, gave up six runs on eight hits with one strikeout over 3 1/3 innings.
–Field Level Media
