Juan Soto brings fireworks on Fourth of July in back-and-forth Subway Series battle

NEW YORK — This was the moment Mets fans had been anticipating and Yankees fans had been dreading.

Juan Soto stepped into the box in the bottom of the first inning Friday with a chance to stop the Yankees’ momentum and start the party at Citi Field. In the top of the frame, Yankees outfielders Jasson Dominguez and Aaron Judge had crushed back-to-back home runs and put the Mets in a two-run hole. But Soto could erase his former team’s lead with one swing. 

"Flip one out of here and this place will go nuts," Ron Darling said on the SNY broadcast. 

He was onto something.

(Photo by Evan Yu/MLB Photos via Getty Images)

A moment later, Soto punished Marcus Stroman’s mistake — an 89-mph cutter, up and away and right where Soto likes it — and drove it to left field for a game-tying two-run home run. The crowd erupted and gave Soto a standing ovation, witnessing Game 1 of a Subway Series that was already oozing with intensity even though there were eight more innings to go.

The fireworks came early on the Fourth of July, and Soto’s team-leading 21st home run was just the beginning. The fuse was lit all afternoon as the crosstown rivals battled in a back-and-forth affair until Jeff McNeil delivered the final blow: a go-ahead two-run homer in the seventh inning that brought the house down. The Amazins’ injury-ridden and overtaxed pitching staff pieced together 27 outs and Soto’s Mets toppled the Yankees in a 6-5 win at Citi Field.

"I just feel good right now," said Soto, who went 3-for-4 with two runs scored in the opening salvo. "I'm seeing the ball really well. I'm trying to take my chances. When I swing the bat, I'm trying to do damage every time."

The Yankees suffered their fifth consecutive loss, and it had to sting a little