Juan Soto had a dream debut in the New York Yankees' victory against the Houston Astros [Video]

The New York Yankees debuted with a five-run victory over the Houston Astros in the MLB season, with the Dominican Juan Soto as the main figure.

Juan Soto was able to make his mark emphatically on his first Opening Day as a member of the Yankees, because in the ninth inning he attacked a Kyle Tucker single to right field and made a strong throw directly to the plate, retiring Honduran Mauricio Dubón before He scored the potential tying run as the Yankees held on to a victory over the Astros.

“I worked all spring training on my arm and my right field throws,” Soto said. “It’s just a great feeling. It just tells you that I’m going in the right direction with what I’ve been doing, and I’m really excited to keep doing it.”

Soto’s throw bounced to catcher José Trevino, who was positioned down the third base line in good territory and then leaned back to intercept a sliding Dubón.

“In that situation, you have to shoot. You have to save the game,” Judge said. “The most important thing is to catch the ball. Many people skip that step and that is what causes a lot of problems. He was calm. He picked up the ball and then relied on his arm. We take a thousand shots during the offseason and preseason. “It really is muscle memory.”

“If you ask any receiver, it’s a tough play,” Trevino said. “I thought [Soto] He had a good reaction, he arrived and threw well towards a good area where I could catch it and touch the runner.”

The spectacular defensive play came four innings after Soto had his first hit and RBI with his new club. The RBI single came with the bases loaded, off Houston starter Framber Valdez, in the fifth inning sparked a three-run rally, which also included an RBI hit to Anthony Rizzo and a bases-loaded walk to Anthony Volpe.

Unexpected heroes for Yankees

Venezuelan Oswaldo Cabrera hit a tying home run off Rafael Montero in the sixth inning, and Alex Verdugo hit a sacrifice fly that gave the Yankees the lead against Ryan Pressly in the seventh.

“We didn’t get that big hit today, but you felt like the bats were there,” manager Aaron Boone said. “They were some very heavy shifts. They wore Framber down, they made him work very hard, they got him out of there. “We were able to put enough on the board.”

Verdugo also made a nice catch to rob Tucker of an extra-base hit in the seventh, helping lead the Yankees to their biggest Opening Day comeback since overcoming a nine-run deficit against the Red Sox on April 18, 1950.

“This was one of those classic Yankee moments: ‘Juan’s Debut,’” Judge summarized.

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