Juan Soto Hits First Home Runs at Mets’ Home Field in Loss to D-backs

Soto hit two home runs, his first at Citi Field as a member of the Mets. But the Diamondbacks won 4–2 and took the series.

Juan Soto of the New York Mets follows through on his sixth inning home run against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Citi Field in New York City on May 1, 2025. The blast was Soto's first home run at Citi Field as a member of the Mets. Jim McIsaac/Getty Images

New York Mets slugger Juan Soto hit his first two home runs at Citi Field as a member of the Mets on Thursday.

Soto signed a 15-year, $765 million deal with the Mets after spending the early part of his career with the Washington Nationals and San Diego Padres.

He has already hit five home runs so far this season but had yet to hit a homer at the Mets’ home stadium as a member of the team. Soto finally went long against the Arizona Diamondbacks, hitting two solo homers, but his efforts were in vain as the Mets lost 4–2.

“We knew he was close,” manager Carlos Mendoza said in a press conference after the game. “When you’ve got a guy that controls the strike zone as well as he does, continues to hit the ball hard, even when he goes 0–4, I’ve been saying it for the past couple of days. Today, [his] first at-bat, I think [the ball went] 110 [miles per hour] right at the shortstop. He’s hitting balls [on] the ground, but now finally, not only [is he] hitting balls in the air, but when he’s going in that direction—left center—he’s a pretty dangerous hitter, and it was good to see that today.”

Soto’s first at bat, mentioned by Mendoza, was a groundout to the shortstop thrown into first in the bottom of the first inning. Soto was walked in his second at-bat in the third. Diamondbacks starting pitcher Zac Gallen struck out all three batters in the fourth inning, and the Mets went three up, three down in the fifth.

Soto stepped up to the plate in the sixth inning and hit the second pitch. The ball drove into left center field and hit the wall between the first and second levels of the stands. The solo shot cut the D-backs lead to 2–1.

“I have my plan against [Gallen],” Soto said of his first homer in a press gaggle after the game. “I just try to see and try to do damage with the mistakes. So he [made] one mistake and I just didn’t miss it.”

He hit his second homer in the bottom of the 8th. With a full count, Soto belted a pitch off reliever Kevin Ginkel that took a left-center field line and landed in roughly the same spot as his first to bring the game to 3–2. But Soto was the only batter to score, and the D-Backs won.

Soto was in a bit of a slump earlier in the series. His two homers Thursday were both the first hits and the first runs he scored against Arizona. He did not score a run in 13 games in the month of April and has 23 runs scored in 32 games.

Soto has five home runs for the season. Despite his quiet bat, the Mets currently sit at 21–11, in first place in the NL East, and half a game behind the Los Angeles Dodgers for the top spot in the National League. Despite losing the series to Arizona, the Mets are still 13–3 at home this season.

“You hate to lose a series here at home, but [you] also understand that’s going to happen,” Mendoza said. “We got to go on the road now, we‘ll be back here. We’ll start playing well again here, just a couple of games that we didn’t get the job done. But we’re a pretty dangerous team, especially here at home.”

Soto was also optimistic that he would find his stride.

“Mendoza has been really clear with me to make me feel comfortable and [go] out there and play,” he said.

“I just try to stay in one spot. Don’t spin or anything like that. Try to see the ball well, everything in either way. If I’ve got to take my walks, I’ve got to take my walks. I’m not in a rush to hit a homer or to hit [the] game-tying hit. I’m more as a collective at-bat, a team at-bat, and try to help and try to get the guy on the mound out as quick as we can.”