Soto put the Mets on the board with a base hit in the third inning to plate Luisangel Acuña before coming in to score on a double by Pete Alonso. He added another single to lead off the sixth and stole second for his second steal of the season. The 26-year-old outfielder is hitting .240/.374/.413 with three homers, 15 runs scored, and nine RBI over 91 plate appearances.

That’s a rare line from Soto. It’s his 20th career three-strikeout game, but just the third time he’s combined that and an 0-for-5. Even worse, one of his non-strikeouts today saw him ground into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded in a scoreless game in the fifth. Soto homered Monday and Tuesday, but those are his only hits in the last five games, and his average has sunk to .231.

Soto’s two-run shot off Jorge Alcala ended a 13-game drought for him. He entered the day in a 1-for-13 slump that had dropped his OPS under .800 to .794.

It didn’t take much time for Soto to make right on his game ending strikeout from opening day. He turned on a 96 MPH cutter from Hunter Brown that was up-and-in on his hands and blasted it nearly 400 ft deep into the right field stands. Regular hitters can’t do things like that. Soto is not a regular hitter, though. It’s only been two games, but he looks comfortable and downright thrilled to be a Met.