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Carlos Mendoza will speak with Juan Soto about hustling out of the batter's box, the Mets manager said after Monday's 3-1 loss at the Boston Red Sox.

Mendoza was asked about Soto's leadoff at-bat in the sixth inning when he sent Justin Wilson's 3-2 fastball off the middle of the Green Monster and settled for a single.

Soto appeared to be admiring what he seemingly thought was a home run, walked backward out of the box and jogged up the line before Jarren Duran's barehand catch and throw to second base kept Soto at first.

"We'll talk to him about it," Mendoza said. "Tonight, obviously, someone gets a hold of one and knows when he gets it, it's Juan. And he thought he had it, the wind and all that. And in this ballpark ... with that wall right there, you've got to get out of the box. So we'll discuss that."

The wind had been blowing in from that direction and the 101.9 mph drive went just 347 feet. In the first inning, Pete Alonso was similarly a bit slow coming out of the box when his drive (109 mph) carried just 365 feet and went off the wall. Alonso, who broke for second, was thrown out there on a perfect throw from Duran.

Juan Soto singles off the Green Monster and then steals second base on the next pitch pic.twitter.com/BQoIQAkmlO

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 20, 2025

Soto stole second base on the first pitch as Alonso worked a walk, but Brandon Nimmo grounded into a 5-4-2 double play and Mark Vientos flew out to right field to strand Soto at third.

"I hit it pretty hard ... tried to get to second, but it wasn't enough," Soto said.

Soto was asked if being "slow getting out of the box" is something that he needs "to be more aware of."

"No," Soto said. "I think I've been hustling pretty hard. If you see it today, you could tell."

In the eighth inning of Sunday's 8-2 loss to the Yankees, Soto led off and grounded up the middle to a sliding DJ LeMahieu at second base but did not appear to get out of the box fast enough.

LeMahieu threw from his knees and beat Soto to the bag by a few steps.

Soto and the Mets (29-19) look to rebound Tuesday at 6:45 p.m. on SNY in the second game of a three-game series with the Red Sox (24-25).

"I mean, it's part of the game," said Soto, whose 1-for-4 evening brings his batting average to .246 through 47 games. "It's not always going to be great. We're going to have up and downs. We've just got to keep our chin up and keep moving forward. It's a game of failure. Sometimes you're going to fail, and you've just got to keep moving forward. It doesn't matter what."

Kodai Senga guts through six innings, but the Mets batters couldn’t capitalize on their chances in a 3-1 loss to the Boston Red Sox on a cold and windy Monday night at Fenway Park.

New York had chances, but bounced into three double plays, left six on base, and went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position. The Mets fell to 29-19 on the year and have lost four of their past five games. The Red Sox improved to 24-25.

The Mets' first five batters in the order combined to go 2-for-18 with two walks and four strikeouts, accounting for five missed chances with RISP.

Here are the takeaways...

- Boston jumped on Senga right away as Jarren Duran smacked the first pitch he threw down the first base line for a double. The Mets’ starter was then charged with a pitch clock violation for not having the PitchCom, tossed three straight out of the zone for a walk, and a wild pitch on a ball way in the dirt put two in scoring position with nobody out.

A weak grounder up the middle plated the run (with Jeff McNeil making a fine play) and a grounder to first put a runner at third with two down. Senga got ahead 0-2, but Trevor Story stayed on the forkball and just kept it fair down the third base line for an RBI single to make it 2-0.

With two down and a runner at first after a walk in the second, a 2-2 forkball to Duran got too much of the plate and was rifled through the hole at first for an RBI triple. The three earned runs were the most Senga has allowed all season.

Alex Bregman’s double off the Green Monster to start the third gave Boston another scoring chance, but Senga kept them off the board as Alonso made a fine play on a hot shot for the first out unassisted, Story swung through a ghost fork for his first strikeout of the night, and Nick Sogard bounced out to first with Alonso making a toss to Senga covering.

Senga appeared to work around a one-out single in the fourth when Duran grounded one to Alonso, but the first baseman’s underhanded toss soared over the pitcher covering. After Rafael Devers walked on a 3-2 fastball just below the zone, Senga got Bregman to ground out to Baty to leave the bases loaded.

After the righty worked his first 1-2-3 inning, he walked off the mound and shook one finger toward the dugout as if to ask for one more inning. And repeated his feat with a 1-2-3 sixth, which began with Alonso making a routine stop and toss to Senga covering. The first baseman showed some emotion celebrating the successful play, and the pitcher had a broad smile as he caught the ball.

His final line: 6.0 innings, three runs, five hits, three walks, five strikeouts on 100 pitches (60 strikes). Senga’s best ability was keeping the Mets in the game as he held the Red Sox to just one hit in nine chances with runners in scoring position, which means opponents are now 5-for-49 (.102) against him in those situations.

- Francisco Alvarez lined a first-pitch double over the head of right fielder Wilyer Abreu to start the third, getting a bit of help from a strong wind. After McNeil's groundout, Tyrone Taylor notched an RBI single to right to put the Mets on the board. 

Francisco Lindor, in a 1-for-20 skid, walked to put two on for Juan Soto. But the slugger, stuck in a 3-for-26 skid, bounced into an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play.

- Alvarez lined a first-pitch single the other way his second time up with one down in the fifth and went to third on McNeil’s single down the line in right. Taylor should have walked on a 3-2 sweeper that looked below the zone, but was rung up by home plate umpire Brian O'Nora for the second out. Lefty Justin Wilson came out of the ‘pen and got Lindor (batting .227 with a .574 OPS as a righty on the year) swinging at a slider below the zone.

- Soto started the sixth with a single off the Monster. He did not run hard out of the box and looked to make up for that lack of hustle by stealing second on the first pitch, which he did without a throw. After Alonso walked, Brandon Nimmo got a big chance but slapped into a 5-6-3 twin killing. Righty Greg Weissert entered and got Mark Vientos to fly out to right.

Nimmo and Vientos both finished the day 0-for-4 with a strikeout. Soto was 1-for-4.

- After McNeil walked with two out in the seventh, Taylor smacked a bullet single to right. McNeil was able to motor into third when Abreu mishandled the ball to give Lindor a shot against righty Justin Slaten. But he bounced the first pitch to second to end the inning. Lindor finished the night 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.

-  Alonso, who had gone 46 at-bats since his last home run, came two feet short of a dinger his first time up with a stiff wind keeping the ball in the park. The slugger tried for a double, but Duran played the ball perfectly off the Green Monster to barehand it and make a perfect throw to second. (Boston had to challenge the on-field call of Laz Diaz.) He finished the day 1-for-3 with a walk and his second error in as many games after committing just one in his first 46 games.

- Starling Marte delivered a broken-bat pinch-hit single with one out in the ninth off of Aroldis Chapman, but Alvarez bounced into the game-ending 4-6-3 double play. The Mets' catcher finished 2-for-4 with a strikeout.

- José Castillo, acquired last week from Arizona, got the first two, but a walk and a wind-aided ground-rule down to left put two in scoring position for Story. But the left-hander got a lineout to center for a scoreless frame in his Mets debut.

- José Butto allowed a one-out single to the speedy David Hamilton, but Alvarez gunned him down at second with a perfect throw. That proved big as Carlos Narváez doubled off the Monster, but a pop-up to center stranded another runner.

In total, Boston went 1-for-10 with RISP and left nine on base.

Highlights

Tyrone Taylor gets the Mets on the board pic.twitter.com/Dlm2id7H42

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 19, 2025

Juan Soto singles off the Green Monster and then steals second base on the next pitch pic.twitter.com/BQoIQAkmlO

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 20, 2025

Pete Alonso completes the toss over to Kodai Senga and celebrated 😂 pic.twitter.com/HGJRWKqFFa

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 20, 2025

Kodai Senga asked for the 6th inning and got a strikeout to close out the frame on his 100th pitch pic.twitter.com/xVOiQyrIkv

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 20, 2025

What's next

These two teams are back in action on Tuesday night with another 6:45 p.m. first pitch in Beantown.

Right-hander Clay Holmes (3.14 ERA, 1.253 WHIP in 48.2 innings) gets the ball for the visitors as the home team has yet to name a starter.

Schwarber reaches 300 bombs in an emphatic way: ‘A lot more to come' originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

DENVER — Safe to say Kyle Schwarber knew he got this one.

The National League’s preeminent slugger connected on the sixth pitch he saw from lefty reliever Scott Alexander in the top of the ninth inning Monday night for a titanic 466-foot blast off the third deck at Coors Field.

It extended a Phillies comeback in a 9-3 win and was a moment Schwarber won’t forget because it was the 300th of his career.

“It’s a really cool thing, 300 homers is a lot of them,” he said. “I think the biggest thing is there’s a lot more to come. They asked me would 12-year-old Kyle think he’d hit 300 homers, I’d say probably not. I’ve always loved the game. I didn’t know what it would hold but it’s been really gracious to me. I’ve been around a lot of really good people who have helped me be the player I am now.”

Schwarber’s game has reached a new level with the Phillies and he continues to improve. Despite being 32, he’s gotten better three years in a row. He hit 47 homers in 2023 but with a .197 batting average. He altered his approach after that season to utilize more of the field and shorten up on occasion and it has worked wonders. His batting average rose by 51 points to .248 last season yet he still hit 38 homers and led the NL with 106 walks.

This season? This is the best Schwarber has ever looked. He’s hitting .257, which he’s only exceeded once. His .389 OBP and .563 slugging percentage are career-highs. He’s second in the majors with 16 home runs.

“He’s really a star in this league,” said Cristopher Sanchez, who allowed three runs over six innings. “I just feel lucky that he’s on my side.”

Schwarber is also hitting .306 against lefties with half of his home runs. If you thought last season’s .300 clip vs. same-handed pitchers was a fluke, think again.

At this rate, 400 home runs is a likelihood and 500 is a possibility. The guy hits 40 a year, after all …

“I always make the joke, ‘I’ll get 200 more and I can quit,'” he said. “There’s a lot of things that have got to go right. I don’t really think about that, I just live day-to-day with these guys and obviously want to go win a championship here.”

The Phillies have won 16 of 22 games since being swept by the Mets last month at Citi Field and moved a half-game ahead of New York on Monday into first place in the NL East. The Dodgers’ loss to the Diamondbacks means the Phils will enter Tuesday with the best record in the National League.

Still 115 games to go, of course, but the Phils are rolling.

“We’ve been playing some pretty good baseball. It’s a long year, there’s ebbs and flows, I talk about it all the time,” manager Rob Thomson said. “You can’t get too high, you can’t get too low, you’ve just got to ride it out.”

The Phillies rode out some early doldrums in the series opener to come back and win big. They had one run through six innings and finished with nine runs on 17 hits. Trea Turner was a homer shy of the cycle. Edmundo Sosa had four hits. Alec Bohm hit the go-ahead homer. Bryce Harper, Nick Castellanos and Brandon Marsh had two hits apiece.

“It’s funny,” Schwarber said, “I was talking to a lot of different guys where I remember my first time coming here, we were having our team meeting and they were just like, hey don’t panic if you’re down 7-0, we’ve seen a lot of 15-14 baseball games here.

“I just more feel like the group, it doesn’t really matter who we’re playing, whenever we’re down we always kind’ve find that rally to put us within a swing of either tying it or taking the lead. It’s such a rare thing to have, it’s kind’ve been a common thing the last three, four years that whenever we’re down, I feel like we’re finding a way right back. Sometimes when you do have those losses it hurts more than others because you’re within striking distance but when you have a win like that, it makes it that much more satisfying.”

The Phillies are 4-0 during their run of seven straight games against the two worst teams in baseball, the Pirates and Rockies. They’ve taken advantage of both teams’ defensive miscues, weak bullpens and lackluster offenses. They trailed for just one inning over the weekend against Pittsburgh, and despite becoming the first team in 15 games to let the Rockies score first, the 29-18 Phillies won comfortably.

“The first four or five innings, it looked like travel or altitude or something,” Thomson said. “It looked like we were kind’ve just walking through this thing. But they turned it up in the last part of the game. It was great.”

Bohm leads a comeback at Coors Field that puts Phillies in first place originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

DENVER — Alec Bohm was hitting .150 when the Phillies left St. Louis in mid-April. He wasn’t producing, he wasn’t experiencing any luck when hitting the ball hard and was hearing it from all angles as scrutiny intensified.

“I know eventually everything sort of evens out and I know that I’ve hit well over .400 for an entire month in this league at times,” Bohm said that weekend. “I think the longer you play in the big leagues and the more experience you get and the more comfortable you get with who you are and that you belong here, the less anything really affects you.”

Bohm hasn’t quite hit .400 since that weekend but has been one of the Phillies’ top bats for over a month — .324 with a hit in 25 of the 30 games.

He helped turn a potential loss into a win Monday night with a 422-foot, two-run homer to dead center in the eighth inning of a 9-3 Phillies win. Eight of the Phils’ nine runs came in the final three innings.

Bohm was facing right-hander Seth Halvorsen, whose second and third pitches were 100 and 101 mph. Halvorsen then went with a slider, missed middle-in and Bohm made him pay.

The Phils have won four in a row, passed the Mets in the NL East by a half-game and will end the night with the best record in the National League unless the Dodgers come back from a huge deficit.

Trea Turner, who tripled and scored the Phillies’ first run in the fifth, added crucial insurance with a two-run double in the eighth. Those extra runs are always important but especially so a day after the Phillies lost Jose Alvarado for 80 games and the playoffs to a PED suspension. Matt Strahm had pitched in back-to-back games and Jordan Romano had appeared in three of the last five so the Phillies were likely without their top three relievers. Joe Ross, Carlos Hernandez and Tanner Banks pitched the final three innings. Hernandez went 1-2-3 in the eighth.

The Phillies are 29-18 and the Rockies are 8-39 but no game or series is a guarantee. The Rockies scored first Monday for the first time in 15 games and were up two the majority of the night.

“Anybody’s capable of beating anybody on any given day, that’s the way it is,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said pregame. “The other part of it is we historically haven’t played well here, so we need to play well.”

The Phillies had lost seven of their previous 12 games at Coors Field, scoring two runs or fewer in five of them, despite the Rockies averaging 96 losses over that span. Monday night looked like it might be another Denver dud when the Phils had runners on the corners with nobody out, down two in the seventh inning for Harper, Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos and still ended it trailing.

But then came the explosion — four runs in the eighth and three more in the ninth. Schwarber blasted a 466-foot homer in the ninth (his 300th) and Edmundo Sosa hit a two-run shot as part of a 4-for-5 night. Sosa is hitting .386 with a .945 OPS in 62 plate appearances.

The Phillies had 19 hits and seven different players had multiple knocks, a homer or both. That’s the kind of damage you’d expect from this offense at baseball’s most hitter-friendly stadium.

Jesus Luzardo is on the hill Tuesday night as the Phils look to make it five in a row.