Soto stars with 2 HRs in Nats’ impressive comeback win

CINCINNATI — The kid can do it all.

The Washington Nationals faithful have been patiently waiting over the first two months of the season for their young star outfielder Juan Soto to heat up, following his 29-home run campaign just a year ago.

Saturday’s performance — in a 10-8 win in Cincinnati — which included not just two home runs at the plate, but a leaping grab on a potential home run in right field, may be the one fans look back on down the line.

As the Reds’ fourth batter of the game, Reds first baseman Joey Votto stung an Erick Fedde cutter deep into right field. Soto tracked the ball the whole way, ran out of room at the warning track, leapt, and made the catch. It’s tough to say if the ball would have snuck over the right-field wall, but the play should be enough for fans in D.C.

Soto’s first homer of the game came off Reds starting pitcher Tyler Mahle in the fourth inning, a majestic 423-foot blast with a 110 mph exit velocity, per Statcast, off the batter’s eye in dead center field. His second, a 419-foot three-run home run off reliever Alexis Díaz in the seventh inning, was hit multiple rows up into the right-field bleachers.

More importantly, that second blast put Washington back within a run in the late innings, set up the eventual tying run in the top of the eighth inning, and set the stage for a three-run ninth inning to steal the third game of the series.

The home runs were Soto’s 11th and 12th long balls of the season, and they marked the 12th-career multi-home run game of his young career.