Juan Soto hits 101st home run into Allegheny River; family in PNC to enjoy moment...

If there’s one highlight that’s going to stand out from this past weekend’s series in PNC Park, it’s Juan Soto’s home run on Saturday night, a line drive to right field which somehow made its way through the tunnel above the outfield fence and rolled into the Allegheny River.

If that’s not enough, the odd way it found its way to water, the reaction of Soto’s family back in the stands, cheering like it was the 23-year-old slugger’s first in the majors, made it much, much better... [ed. note - “It was Soto’s 101st HR in his 474th game in the big leagues.”]

The 3rd of the 2022 campaign for the Nationals’ No. 2 hitter was a 382-foot liner that left the yard at 108.4 MPH (exit velocity), bounced through the tunnel in the stands, and rolled down to the river.

Soto’s manager was asked if he saw where it ended up.

“I could see it was a homer,” he said, but he didn’t see the end result.

Told it went into the Allegheny, Martinez just laughed.

“We can’t see that, but I knew the ball disappeared, I was just happy it was a homer.”

“I was in the dugout for it, he’s incredible,” Nats’ starter Josh Rogers said after the club’s 6-4 loss to the Pirates. “That’s — there’s no other way to put it. That guy is incredible, and he’s so fun to watch every single day.”

Did the lefty see where it ended up?

“Did it go through the tunnel?” he asked. “Into the river,” he was told. “That’s pretty sick.”

Not even the player who hit it knew.

“I didn’t know about it,” Soto said, as quoted by MASN’s Mark Zuckerman. “Not at all. I just saw it going through the hallway.”

Soto said it meant a lot to him to have his family in Pittsburgh this weekend to cheer him on and provide support.

Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images

“It feels pretty good. I play this game for them. I hope they enjoy it as much as I do. And it feels pretty good to have them cheering for me and have that support back there,” he said.

He also talked about the fact that his father captured the home run on his own camera from the stands, as you can see in the first of two videos included above. Does his dad film it all?

“He just loves the cameras and he loves to record me, he loves to take pictures, and all that kind of stuff, so soon I’m going to get him a professional camera, so he can do whatever he wants,” Soto said.