Juan Soto fouls ball off his foot and leaves Mets' loss in San Diego
The Mets' Juan Soto reacts after fouling a ball off his leg while batting during the fourth inning of a game against the San Diego Padres on Tuesday in San Diego. Credit: AP/Gregory Bull
SAN DIEGO — This was the Soto shuffle no one wanted to see, followed by the Soto scan everyone was hoping for.
Juan Soto, who in so many ways has been the engine of this Mets offense, was down on the infield grass in the fourth inning of the Mets 7-1 loss to the Padres at Petco Park on Tuesday night. He had just fouled a ball off the top of his left foot and was checked by a trainer before resuming his at-bat.
He hobbled back to the batter’s box and when he grounded out to second, his halting jog was enough for manager Carlos Mendoza to lift the slugger in the bottom of the inning. It was enough for the Mets to worry that he had broken his foot, but X-rays were negative, and Mendoza believes he’s day to day and is likely to avoid an injured list stint.
“I asked the trainers if we are planning on doing more imaging and as of right now, the answer is no ... So let’s see how he progresses,” Mendoza said. “It’s not a good feeling, especially when you watch him go down like that and he looks like he’s in a lot of pain ... You’re obviously just holding your breath there and then once I got the news, obviously, a sense of relief.”
The scare was, however, enough to further sour a decidedly miserable two days here in San Diego.
In Monday’s loss, the Mets squandered a four-run fifth-inning lead, and on Tuesday, Mendoza opted to lift a cruising Sean Manaea after the fifth inning of a tie game in favor of Jose Butto, who let up five runs, five hits and two walks over 1 2/3 innings.
The offense, too, was listless, managing just four hits and leaving eight on base against starter Ryan Bergert, who pitched four innings, and five relievers, part of the best bullpen in baseball.
Manaea, who allowed one run and three hits with no walks and four strikeouts over five innings, was at 86 pitches and appeared to ask Mendoza for one more as he headed toward the dugout, and was visibly disappointed at the response. He has a 2.08 ERA in his four games back from the injured list.
“We still kind of have an idea on pitch count,” Mendoza said. “We’re still on that build-up with him. He reached that mark ... Overall, he looked really good.”
The Mets dropped their second straight after having won seven in a row.
The Padres opened the scoring on Jackson Merrill’s first-inning RBI single, and the Mets opened the misery with Soto’s fourth-inning injury.
Leading off in that inning against Bergert, Soto was down 0-and-2 before fouling off the slider. He immediately began hopping on his right foot, attempted to walk and then sat down on the grass. He was examined by trainers, took a few practice swings in foul territory and gingerly returned to the batter’s box. He grounded out to second and limped back to the dugout.
“I think it’s going to be good,” Soto said. “We’ve just got to get the swelling down and ... I’m going to be fine ... [It was] just a tough moment. You try to calm down and see if it goes away. Definitely, when I swung at the last [pitch], I tried to run, I tried to push, I couldn’t do it. We’ll just take our time and see how it goes.”
The Mets loaded the bases with no outs against Bergert in the fifth but scored only once, on Starling Marte’s sacrifice fly.
The Padres got a run off Butto in the sixth on Merrill’s RBI triple.
Butto allowed back-to-back leadoff singles to Jose Iglesias and Jake Cronenworth in the seventh and, with one out, Elias Diaz lined a two-run double to left to put the Padres up 4-1. Butto got the second out and then walked Luis Arraez. Chris Devenski, who had just been signed to a one-year contract after Huascar Brazoban’s demotion, came in and gift-wrapped an 82.2-mph changeup to Manny Machado, who blasted it 404 feet to left for a three-run homer, making it 7-1.
The Mets had one baserunner over the final 3 2/3 innings.
“They’re elite,” Mendoza said of the Padres’ bullpen, which has an MLB-best 2.99 ERA. “Once they get a lead after five, you know it’s going to be a battle.”
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.
