Juan Soto tried to get a little too cute in the field on Wednesday.
Soto was acquired by the San Diego Padres just before the Aug. 2 trade deadline. The 23-year-old on Wednesday played in his eighth game with his new team, and he committed an ugly error early in the game.
The San Francisco Giants had runners on first and second and were leading 1-0 with nobody out in the top of the third. Leadoff batter Austin Slater sent a 2-2 changeup to right field.
Soto put his glove up to try and trick the Giants’ baserunners into thinking he was about to make the catch. Instead, Soto ended up misplaying the ball and allowing it to get past him. Two Giants scored on the play, while Slater made it to third.
Juan Soto misplays a ball in right field to allow two runs to score pic.twitter.com/ZN2RJUPaCK
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) August 10, 2022
That error gave the Giants a 3-0 lead. Slater scored on a single next to make it 4-0.
Rather than try to fool the runners, Soto should have just focused on keeping the ball in front of him and making the play.
Luckily the error didn’t turn out to matter much. San Diego scored six in the bottom of the third and exploded for 13 runs in a 13-7 win. Since losing five in a row, the Padres have won two straight. They’re now 3-5 since their big Soto trade.
