Juan Soto homers twice as Mets offense busts out in much-needed win over Braves
Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Mike Puma about the inside buzz on the Mets.A lineup that’s been desperate for production — especially from the bottom of the order — finally got it Wednesday, as the Mets scored five runs in the bottom of the fourth of a 7-3 win over Atlanta.The victory was just the second in 12 games for the Mets, who have fallen out of first place in the NL East while questions have been raised about almost every aspect of their roster.But Juan Soto homered twice, Clay Holmes rebounded from perhaps his worst outing of the season last week in Atlanta to stifle the Braves on Wednesday and the lineup took advantage of the youngest player in the majors, Atlanta right-hander Didier Fuentes, a 20-year-old making his second MLB start.The Mets hit the halfway point of the season at 47-34 and knocked the Braves to five games under .500.About the only thing that went wrong was right-hander Jonathan Pintaro couldn’t finish the ninth and Edwin Díaz was forced to close it out.The sizzling Soto got the five-run fourth going with a 413-foot leadoff homer to center for a one-run lead.He added a second homer to start the eighth, his team-high 19th of the season.After Soto’s homer in the fourth, Alonso was hit by a pitch and went to third on Jeff McNeil’s double to left.Starling Marte’s sacrifice fly to deep center made it 3-1 and sent McNeil to third.With the infield in, Brett Baty singled to right, giving the Mets a 4-1 lead.Ronny Mauricio, who got the Mets on the board in the third inning with a leadoff homer, delivered a base hit, as did Hayden Senger.A Francisco Lindor sacrifice fly added another run, as did Brandon Nimmo’s base hit to center before Soto struck out to end the inning.It was a welcome eruption for a team that has struggled to score for most of the 11-game free fall that cost them the division lead as every hitter in the lineup had a hit or an RBI.
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