SAN DIEGO — Considering Juan Soto’s flair for the dramatic — not to mention his “generational” talent — was there ever any doubt?
In his first game back at Petco Park since the Padres traded him to the Yankees, Soto crushed a monster home run that set off a three-homer inning on the way to an 8-0 win on Friday night.
Aaron Judge went back-to-back with Soto for the first time before Giancarlo Stanton clobbered a two-run shot two batters later as the Yankees (36-17) went bombs away on Yu Darvish in a five-run third inning.
The trio combined for 1,249 feet of home runs in a matter of minutes, marking the second time all three have homered in the same game.
It was more than enough run support for Carlos Rodon, who quieted the Padres (27-27) with six shutout innings to kick off a 10-day, nine-game West Coast trip in style.
Darvish had entered the game with a 25-inning scoreless streak but the Yankees ambushed him for seven runs across 5 ²/₃ innings, including a fourth home run as Gleyber Torres later went deep in the fourth inning.
Soto, who was met with louder boos than cheers when introduced to the sellout crowd of 43,505, went 2-for-4 with a homer and a double (while also being robbed of extra bases by right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. in the seventh inning) in his return to the city where he spent a season and a half.
His 14th home run of the season, a two-run shot, was the longest of the Yankees’ bunch Friday, traveling an estimated 423 feet and prompting Tatis Jr. to barely move.
Two pitches later, Judge made it back-to-back, drilling a 409-foot home run to left field.
It marked Judge’s third home run in as many games, his 10th in the last 18 games and his 16th of the season to continue a torrid month of May.
Then, after Alex Verdugo sliced a single off the left-field wall, Stanton visited the second deck of the Western Metal Supply Co. building in left field for his 13th home run of the season.
The 417-foot blast made it a 6-0 Yankees lead.
Through the Yankees’ first 53 games of the season, Soto, Judge and Stanton have combined for 43 home runs — more than four teams have hit.
It was exactly the kind of night the Yankees envisioned when they acquired Soto in the December blockbuster, pairing him Judge and Stanton to form a three-headed monster.
It was also the kind of night that Soto felt he didn’t show enough of during his time with the Padres.
After batting .265 with a .893 OPS and 41 home runs across 214 games with the organization, Soto was not sure what kind of crowd reaction to expect Friday.
“It’s kind of tough for me because they were right there every day for me,” Soto said before the game. “I tried my best, I played hard every day, but I didn’t play my best. That’s one of the things I was sad about because I couldn’t show them how great I can be. But it is what it is.”
It wasn’t long ago that the Padres were the ones talking about extending Soto, like the Nationals before them and the Yankees now.
Soto said he thought he was still going to be a Padre this season until about a week before the trade in which the Yankees had to give up Michael King, Drew Thorpe, Randy Vasquez, Jhony Brito and Kyle Higashioka.
“It was a little uncomfortable, but at the same [time], it’s just part of the business,” Soto said. “I learned that with the Nationals. But it is what it is. It’s just a business, so you gotta take it that way. No hard feelings or anything like that, but I was preparing myself to come back to San Diego. They changed my plans, but at least they changed it for good and traded me to a great team and organization. I was happy to be traded to an organization like the Yankees.”
