With Juan Soto eager to experience playoff baseball in the Bronx for the first time, the slugger got more than his money’s worth in the Yankees’ 6-5 Game 1 ALDS win over the Royals on Saturday.
So did the fans who spent the evening relentlessly cheering for Soto.
The adoring crowd first got to work during pregame introductions, raising Yankee Stadium’s decibel level when Soto and Aaron Judge were announced. The crowd roared again when Soto took his position in right — a season-long occurrence — and when he sliced a dunking, opposite-field double off Michael Wacha in the first inning.
Juan Soto got a loud ovation for introductions prior to his first #Yankees playoff game. Aaron Judge then heard "MVP" chants. pic.twitter.com/GIIeLNIRtF
— Gary Phillips (@GaryHPhillips) October 5, 2024
Fans, hungry for October baseball after the Yankees missed the playoffs in 2023, continued cheering for Soto throughout the game, as the impending free agent went 3-for-5 with a strikeout in his pinstriped postseason debut.
“It was really cool, really fun. I think the fans showed up today, and it was really, really exciting, really amazing,” Soto said. “It was really electric.
“It was incredible. They get loud. They really surprised me today. But more surprising was the team and how we played the game today. It was really cool.”
Soto was referring to the Yankees’ teeter-totter affair with the Royals, which saw multiple lead changes through the first seven innings.
The game could have remained tied after seven had Soto only produced with his bat on Saturday. Instead, his most significant contribution came from his arm.
That came in the second inning, when MJ Melendez ripped a single to right with runners on first and second and nobody out. At first, Aaron Boone feared the ball might reach the wall. The manager never considered there might be a play at the plate. He just wanted Soto to cut it off.
Soto did exactly that. And with the lumbering Salvador Perez trying to score the game’s first run, Soto delivered a throw home to Austin Wells. The ball arrived in plenty of time, resulting in an out at the plate after Wells tagged his fellow catcher.
“Right when I caught the ball, I knew Perez is not that fast, so I just tried to make sure I made a great throw,” Soto said. “Don’t try to overthrow it or anything like that. I just tried to make sure I made an accurate throw, and that’s what I did.”
Juan Soto cuts down a run at the plate! #ALDS pic.twitter.com/xk0j6ZiTfW
— MLB (@MLB) October 5, 2024
Soto is right: Perez is not that fast. In fact, his sprint speed ranks in the bottom-third percentile for all major leaguers.
Still, Royals third base coach Vance Wilson waved Perez home.
“Yeah, it was aggressive,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said of the send.
The Yankees ended up grateful for that aggression, and they ultimately allowed just one run in the second inning on a Tommy Pham sacrifice fly.
“[Soto] put on a great throw,” Boone said, “and finished off there by Austin to kind of keep that inning from getting away from us. Not only cutting down the run but getting us another out.
“They’re set up big time right there if they score that run. But that was a big play.”
