Juan Soto homers in consecutive at-bats to lead Mets past Diamondbacks 7-1

PHOENIX (AP) Juan Soto homered in consecutive at-bats, Kodai Senga overcame early control problems to pitch six scoreless innings and the New York Mets beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-1 on Wednesday.

Soto hit a solo homer off Merrill Kelly (3-2) in the seventh inning and added another off Jalen Beeks in the eighth, his seventh of the season. Soto also followed Francisco Lindor’s two-run double in the ninth with a sacrifice fly to put New York up 7-1.

It was the 25th multihomer game of Soto’s career, tied with Mel Ott, Eddie Mathews and Alex Rodriguez for the second-most by a player before turning 27 years old – one behind Jimmie Foxx. Soto won’t be 27 until Oct. 25.

Senga (4-2) allowed two hits, struck out four and walked five – all in the first three innings – to lower his ERA to 1.16.

Arizona’s Corbin Carroll hit his 11th homer of the season, a solo shot in the eighth.

Kelly suffered his latest cramping bout in his last start, leaving after five innings against Philadelphia due to a hamstring cramp. The right-hander was right against the Mets – maybe it was all the pickles concerned fans have been sending him – until he left a pitch up in the zone to Soto in the sixth inning. The Mets’ slugger turned it into a towering homer to right-center.

Kelly gave up two more runs in the seventh, on Luisangel Acuña’s single and Jeff McNeill’s triple. Kelly allowed three runs and six hits with six strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings.

Lindor made a perfect relay throw to get Eugenio Suárez at the plate on Alek Thomas’ double in the second inning.

Mets first baseman Pete Alonso went 0 for 5, ending his streak of reaching base at 18 straight games.

The Mets have a day off before RHP Clay Holmes (4-1, 2.95 ERA) pitches the opener of a three-game series against the Chicago Cubs on Friday. Arizona RHP Brandon Pfaadt (5-2, 3.79) pitches Thursday in the opener of a four-games series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

Expert Picks

View all 3 picks

Yes+470

Francisco Lindor · To Hit a Home Run · Player Prop

Picked May 7 @ 7:53 am, 1 unit on FanDuel

LOSS

While Francisco Lindor is a switch-hitter, most of his power this season has come when batting from the left side against right-handed pitchers (RHPs). He has hit 6 of his 7 home runs this season against RHPs. In 30 games against right-handed starting pitchers, Lindor has a .880 OPS. In 6 games against left-handed starters, his OPS drops to .522. Merrill Kelly doesn’t give up many home runs, but he still has a 1.2 HR/9 rate and is susceptible to giving up 1 or 2 if he misses his spots. Lindor is just 2/10 in his career against Kelly, but having faced him 10 times before should help. We set the line at +370 for Lindor to hit a HR.

Jake’s Pick

Over 4.5 Total Pitcher Strikeouts-139

Kodai Senga · Total Pitcher Strikeouts · Player Prop

Picked May 7 @ 7:48 am, 0.5 unit on BetMGM

LOSS

Only putting a half unit here, maybe I am being tepid for no reason, but Senga has ended with four strikeouts in three of his six starts. There does show value on this price at 4.5 K’s so I’ll back the over, but I do have some reservations about how poorly his pitches grade out on the Stuff+ scale. His swinging strike rate is solid at 12.6% and in line with previous years, so we know the swing and miss is there and likely more strikeouts will come, he just hasn’t run it up much yet. Senga struck out six DBacks in just four innings last time out and matched his career high 12 punch outs in his only career start in the desert (2023).

Angelo’s Pick

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Mets 24-14	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	1	3	7	8	0
Diamondbacks 19-18	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	6	1

Chase FieldPhoenix, AZ

W: K. Senga (4-2)L: M. Kelly (3-2)S: (0)
HR: NYM – J. Soto 2 (7), ARI – C. Carroll (11)

K. Senga

P

6.0 IP, 5 BB, 4 SO, 89 P
J. Soto

RF

2-4, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 HR, SO

HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	AVG
F. Lindor SS	5	1	2	2	.287
J. Soto RF	4	2	2	3	.261
P. Alonso 1B	5	0	0	0	.328
B. Nimmo DH	4	0	1	0	.212
L. Torrens C	3	1	1	0	.239
B. Baty 3B	4	0	0	0	.190
L. Acuna 2B	4	1	1	1	.295
J. McNeil LF	3	0	1	1	.229
J. Azocar PR-LF	0	1	0	0	.294
T. Taylor CF	3	1	0	0	.242

HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	AVG
C. Carroll RF	2	1	2	1	.297
G. Perdomo SS	4	0	1	0	.285
P. Smith 1B	3	0	0	0	.287
J. Naylor DH	4	0	0	0	.299
E. Suarez 3B	3	0	0	0	.197
L. Gurriel LF	4	0	0	0	.212
A. Thomas CF	4	0	2	0	.295
T. Tawa 2B	3	0	1	0	.197
G. Moreno C	1	0	0	0	.230
J. Herrera C	1	0	0	0	.195
a- K. Marte PH-2B	1	0	0	0	.262

a-grounded out for Herrera in the 7th

2B – F. Lindor 2 (7), B. Nimmo (6), L. Torrens (8)
3B – J. McNeil (2)
HR – J. Soto 2 (7)
SF – J. Soto (2)
RBI – F. Lindor 2 (24), J. Soto 3 (17), L. Acuna (5), J. McNeil (5)
Runners left in scoring position, 2-Out – F. Lindor, P. Alonso, J. McNeil

2B – A. Thomas (7)
HR – C. Carroll (11)
RBI – C. Carroll (28)
Runners left in scoring position, 2-Out – T. Tawa, K. Marte

SB – L. Acuna (9), J. Azocar

CS – C. Carroll (2)

Outfield Assist – T. Taylor
DP – (Acuna-Lindor-Alonso)

E – T. Tawa (3)

PITCHERS	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
K. Senga(W, 4-2)	6.0	2	0	5	4	1.16
M. Kranick(H, 3)	1.1	4	1	0	1	3.18
H. Brazoban(H, 6)	0.2	0	0	0	1	1.21
R. Stanek	1.0	0	0	0	0	3.95

PITCHERS	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
M. Kelly(L, 3-2)	6.1	6	3	0	6	4.09
J. Beeks	1.1	1	1	0	1	2.25
J. Castillo	1.1	1	3	3	1	10.38

Pitches-Strikes – K. Senga 89-48, M. Kranick 27-21, H. Brazoban 10-7, R. Stanek 8-7
Ground Balls-Fly Balls – K. Senga 6-3, M. Kranick 3-2, H. Brazoban 0-1, R. Stanek 2-0
Batters Faced – K. Senga 22, M. Kranick 8, H. Brazoban 2, R. Stanek 3

Pitches-Strikes – M. Kelly 98-68, J. Beeks 19-15, J. Castillo 42-22
Ground Balls-Fly Balls – M. Kelly 11-4, J. Beeks 2-1, J. Castillo 1-1
Batters Faced – M. Kelly 26, J. Beeks 5, J. Castillo 8

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Juan Soto homers in consecutive at-bats to lead Mets past Diamondbacks 7-1

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