SAN DIEGO (AP) — The sellout crowd came to cheer Juan Soto in his first game with the San Diego Padres. It went bonkers when Brandon Drury hit a grand slam on the first pitch he saw with his new team.
Feeding off the energy of Soto and the crowd, the new-look Padres routed the Colorado Rockies 9-1 on an electric Wednesday night at Petco Park. The crowd of 44,652 was animated even before the game started, and gave Soto a standing ovation as he ran out to his position in right field in the first inning, and then again when he came to the plate in the bottom of the inning. He drew a walk to start a five-run rally that was capped with Drury’s grand slam.
“It feels very cool. It brings a lot of emotions for me,” said Soto, the 23-year-old generational talent whose acquisition along with Josh Bell in a blockbuster trade with Washington gave a jolt to both the team and the city. “It feels amazing how they cheered for me. They gave us the energy to go out there and play hard.”
Manny Machado, who has carried the Padres most of the season, homered leading off the fifth and finished a triple short of the cycle in San Diego’s fifth straight win. Jake Cronenworth had a two-run shot. The big beneficiary was left-hander Blake Snell (4-5), who struck out nine in six innings and won his third straight start.
The Padres unveiled their new-look lineup with Soto batting second and Bell hitting cleanup a day after they were obtained Tuesday in one of the biggest deadline deals ever. Drury was also obtained on Tuesday, from Cincinnati, and put a charge into the already festive atmosphere with a grand slam off Chad Kuhl with one out in the first
Soto walked, Machado doubled and Bell walked to load the bases before Cronenworth was hit by a pitch to bring in Soto. Drury then drove the first pitch he saw from Kuhl into the seats in…