Juan Soto wasn’t too concerned after fouling a ball hard off his ankle during his at-bat in the bottom of the third in Wednesday night’s walk-off win over the Tigers.
Soto completed that AB, then took his next turn in the fifth.
But concern certainly grew from Mets fans when the star outfielder was lifted for a pinch-hitter with two men and two outs in a tie ballgame in the sixth.
X-rays came back negative, and Soto told reporters Thursday that they were simply trying to play things safe.
“I’ve done it before,” he said. “I wasn’t able to push at that point, it was getting slow, so I was just trying to make the smart move but I know how to handle it.”
Soto was deemed well enough to jump right back into the Mets’ lineup for Thursday afternoon’s series finale, and he showed no ill-effects as he put together a much-needed big day at the plate.
The left-handed slugger was retired in each of his first two at-bats but then delivered in his next two, lining a two-out go-ahead single in the bottom of the fifth then a solo homer to center leading off the seventh.
He came into the day hitting just .146 with three RBI and a .502 OPS over 11 May games.
“It’s always great to come through for your team,” Soto said. “Definitely in a big situation with guys in scoring position there, just trying to bring them in and take the lead, I think it’s huge.”
New York, of course, held on from there to secure the series sweep of the Tigers.
With those three come-from-behind victories now in the books, the suddenly hot Mets have now taken three of their first four series and have win eight of 12 games thus far in May.
“It shows we’re capable of doing whatever we want,” Soto said. “At the end of the day it’s all about us — what we want to do is right there in front of us, we just have to go out there and get it.”
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