BIG WORDS
Juan Soto sounds off on Opening Day loss to Astros, strikeout against Hader
Mar 28, 2025, 2:16 pm
Josh Hader battled back from a 3-0 count to secure the strikeout. Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images.
With a chance to make a late splash in his New York Mets debut, Juan Soto came up empty.
After signing the biggest contract in baseball history last offseason, the slugger came to bat with two runners aboard and the Mets down by two in the ninth inning Thursday. But instead of delivering the huge hit New York was looking for, he whiffed on a full-count slider from hard-throwing closer Josh Hader that was way outside the strike zone to send the Mets to a second straight opening day loss in Houston's 3-1 victory.
“He just got me in that situation,” Soto said.
Hader loaded the bases with nobody out, then fanned third-string catcher Hayden Senger in his first major league at-bat. Francisco Lindor’s sacrifice fly made it 3-1, and there were runners on first and third when Hader struck out Soto for his 200th career save.
“We all want to do something in a big spot,” Soto said. “We’re all trying to get the knock and try to bring the runs in and try to help the team either way.”
Soto singled and walked twice against the Astros after signing a record $765 million, 15-year contract as a free agent in December.
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza was asked if he thought Soto felt extra pressure in the ninth inning because it was his first game with a new team.
“Yeah, of course, as a competitor he always wants to come through,” Mendoza said. “I thought he had some good at-bats today and even on that one he got it 3-0 and then 3-1 and that pitch that he got there (he) just missed it. Pretty good pitch. But he’ll come through.”
Soto, who played for the American League champion New York Yankees last season, joins the Mets as they chase their first World Series title since 1986.
The four-time All-Star was disappointed his first game with the Mets didn't go their way.
“I was expecting to win the game,” he said. “Definitely it’s not how we wanted. ... They’re a really good team over there and they come in and grind. For me it was a good experience. These guys are amazing and we’ve been having a good time since spring training and we’ve just got to bring that all the way.”
The 26-year-old Soto hit .288 with 41 homers and 109 RBIs last year and won a Silver Slugger Award for a fifth straight season.
Soto is a career .285 hitter with 201 home runs and 592 RBIs in seven major league seasons. He's also played for the Nationals and Padres.
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Houston’s relentless defense confused and harassed Tennessee and carried the Cougars into their seventh Final Four and first since 2021, with L.J. Cryer scoring 17 points in a 69-50 victory on Sunday.
Emanuel Sharp scored 14 of his 16 points after halftime for top-seeded Houston (34-4) and was named the region's Most Outstanding Player.
Houston extended the nation's longest active winning streak to 17 games. The Cougars had been eliminated as a No. 1 seed in the Sweet 16 in each of the past two years, but this time coach Kelvin Sampson's team has a shot at the program's first national title.
The Cougars will face Cooper Flagg and five-time national champ Duke on Saturday in San Antonio — just a 3 1/2-hour drive from campus.
The Cougars have reached the national title game twice, losing in 1983 to North Carolina State and in 1984 to Georgetown in the Phi Slama Jama era.
Sharp made four 3-pointers and Joseph Tugler, who made the assist on Friday’s decisive basket against Purdue, had nine rebounds.
Chaz Lanier and Jordan Gainey scored 17 points apiece for the second-seeded Volunteers (30-8), who again fell short of the program's first Final Four appearance. Coach Rick Barnes' team was also eliminated in a regional final last year.
Houston won this one with a familiar formula.
The nation’s stingiest defense held the Vols to 15 first-half points, the fewest in an Elite Eight game since 1979. It also was the lowest first-half scoring total by any No. 1 or No. 2 seed in a March Madness game since seeding began in 1979.
When the Vols had a chance to cut the deficit to single digits in the second half, the nation’s top 3-point shooting team made three straight from beyond the arc to extend the margin to 17.
How bad was it for the Vols?
They made only 6 of 28 shots in the first 20 minutes and missed their first 14 3s before Zakai Ziegler finally ended the drought with 38 seconds left, cutting the deficit to 34-15 — far too big a deficit to come back from. Tourney teams that trailed by 19 or more points at halftime are now 0-244 all-time.
Even in the second half, Tennessee struggled. The defense that outplayed Kentucky so thoroughly in the previous round couldn’t get enough stops and while the offense improved, it wasn't good enough.
Tennessee’s top scorers, Chaz Lanier and Zeigler, were a combined 5 of 27 from the field. Zeigler had five points and five assists.
Points at a premium
Georgetown had the previous lowest-scoring first half in March Madness with 16 points in a second-round victory over SMU in 1984. That Hoyas team went on to win the national title. The paltry first-half total was matched by Miami in a 2013 Sweet 16 loss to Marquette and by Michigan in a 2019 Sweet 16 loss to Texas Tech.