Boston Red Sox reliever Austin Davis caught the ire of Washington Nationals superstar slugger Juan Soto Saturday. With the bases loaded of a 1-0 game in the eighth inning Soto faced off against Davis, who entered the game in the crucial moment.
Davis came into the game talking trash to the “Childish Bambino” to the point Soto wanted to “kick his a–” in baseball terms.
Right after the first pitch, Soto stared down Davis after his shimmy shuffle.
“I’m really not thinking anything,” Soto said per Jesse Dougherty of The Washington Post. “I just tried to make good contact. He started talking trash to me, and my mindset just changed to kick his a–. That’s what I’m going for.”
On the very next pitch, Soto connected, nearly hitting a game-changing grand slam. Instead the ball traveled deep to center field before being caught. It was good enough that Ryan Zimmerman tagged from third to score the game-tying run.
The 22-year old Soto said he doesn’t like trash-talking. Thus he wanted to get revenge on Davis.
What made Davis so chirpy?
There could be an explanation provided by Dougherty.
Nonetheless, Juan Soto has been having an MVP-caliber season. In his third full season, Soto is hitting .315/.467/538 with 29 home runs, 95 RBI’s and a MLB-leading 144 walks. Unfortunately, the Nationals are embarked on a rebuild as Soto is entering a potentially historic prime.
Meanwhile, the Red Sox were able to pull off the win by the score of 5-3. Boston is now tied with the New York Yankees for the top American League wild card spot with one more day left in the regular season.
Yet, the postgame reveal of the in-game banter between Davis and Soto has emerged as the storyline of Saturday’s contest.
