Soto, back in San Diego for 1st time since trade, goes deep in 2nd at-bat - ESPN

It didn't take Yankees slugger Juan Soto long to show Padres fans what they are missing.

In his first game back to face San Diego since being traded to the Yankees, he drove a third-inning high fastball from Yu Darvish over the right-center-field fence for his 14th homer of the year. It was the first of three no-doubt shots for the Yankees that inning off Darvish. Aaron Judge followed with a homer and Giancarlo Stanton also had a two-run shot.

Soto's 423-foot homer gave the Yankees a 3-0 lead as they went on to win the game 8-0. He also walked in the fourth, flied out to the wall in right in the seventh and doubled in the ninth.

The 25-year-old from the Dominican Republic was greeted with a mixture of boos from Padres fans and cheers from the many Yankees fans at Petco Park when the starting lineup was announced and each time he came to the plate.

In preparing for his first game at Petco since being traded to New York on Dec. 7, he said he thought San Diego is a great city for any big leaguer to play in for a long time.

«My time in San Diego was great. It was unbelievable,» Soto said before the AL East-leading Yankees, who at 35-17 have the second-best record in the majors, opened a weekend series against the Padres, who are 27-26 and 6½ games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West.

Soto was involved in two blockbuster trades in just 16 months.

The Padres obtained Soto from Washington in an eight-player trade Aug. 2, 2022, after he turned down a $440 million, 15-year offer from the Nationals. The Padres envisioned having him for three playoff runs. Though they made a stirring run to the NL Championship Series in 2022, they were a major disappointment in 2023, when they missed the playoffs despite having baseball's