Soto shines in DC return as Padres down Nationals 7-4
By IAN NICHOLAS QUILLEN
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Juan Soto hit his ninth home run and had three hits to begin a three-game visit to his former team as the San Diego Padres earned a 7-4 victory over the Washington Nationals. Jake Cronenworth followed Soto’s seventh-inning solo shot with a two-run homer two batters later as the Padres scored four times off Nationals reliever Erasmo Ramirez. Xander Bogaerts and Brandon Dixon also went deep earlier against Nationals left-hander MacKenzie Gore. San Diego’s Yu Darvish allowed back-to-back homers to CJ Abrams and Lane Thomas in the fifth inning, but no other damage in a six-inning effort.