Before his first game since being traded to the San Diego Padres, Juan Soto issued a warning to opposing pitchers that aged perfectly almost instantly.
An MLB Trade Deadline winner for the ages, the San Diego Padres were set to show off the spoils of their victory ahead of Tuesday’s deadline on Wednesday night at Petco Park as they welcomed the Colorado Rockies to town with Juan Soto, Josh Bell and Brandon Drury in the lineup for the first time.
Prior to the start of the game, though, Soto issued somewhat of a warning to opposing pitchers about the new San Diego lineup that’s about to be trotted out. In his introductory news conference, Soto said, “I wish good luck to other pitchers.”
It didn’t take long for the Rockies and starting pitcher Chad Kuhl to find out exactly what that meant.
Padres: Juan Soto warns opposing pitchers, Brandon Drury immediately makes it gospel
In the first inning of Wednesday night’s game, Kuhl danced around Soto and walked the new superstar on four pitches. Manny Machado promptly doubled to put runners on second and third before Bell was also walked. After Soto scored when Jake Cronenworth was hit by a pitch, that brought Drury to the plate and he wasted no time in making sure that Kuhl, one of the aforementioned opposing pitchers, did not have good luck as he belted a grand slam.
That gave the Padres an early 5-0 lead but, more importantly, showed just how dangerous this group is.
The 2-4 hitters in the lineup of Soto, Machado, Bell is a nightmare for opposing pitchers because every one of them can bring everyone on the base paths home in an instant. And it’s only made more dangerous with guys like Cronenworth and Drury behind them, as evidenced on Wednesday night.
And if that wasn’t scary enough, that Fernando Tatis Jr. guy is slated to return in the next few weeks. So, you know, have fun with that, anyone trying to get three outs against this new Padres lineup.
