Juan Soto hits his home run record and Kershaw bids farewell to Dodger Stadium

Dominican New York Mets star Juan Soto surpassed his major league single-season home run record Friday as iconic pitcher Clayton Kershaw received an emotional farewell from his Los Angeles Dodgers fans.

In New York, Soto reached 42 home runs this season during the Mets' 12x6 win over the Washington Nationals.

The Dominican hit a spectacular three-run home run in the fourth inning and was cheered by his Citi Field fans.

With that 128-yard blast, the Queens ninth took an already insurmountable 8x4 lead against the Nationals.

A month ago, the Mets and Nationals staged a historic game for Venezuelan baseball, which for the first time saw two Venezuelan managers, Carlos Mendoza and Miguel Cairo, face each other in the majors.

Cairo, manager of the Nationals, won that series (2x1) but now his team is going through a slump of five consecutive losses.

Mendoza's Mets, on the other hand, have four wins in their last five games after an eight-game losing streak that put their playoff appearance in jeopardy.

Soto has been one of the big culprits in the Mets' reaction to avoid a failure virtually unimaginable at the beginning of the season, when they emerged as title contenders thanks to the Dominican's high-profile signing.

The Santo Domingo native, who was given a $765 million, 15-year contract, has three home runs and seven runs batted in over the past six games.

With Friday's homer, he surpassed the 41 he hit in 2024 in his only season with the neighboring Yankees, whom he led to their first World Series since 2009, but lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Dodgers qualify for playoffs

In Los Angeles, Clayton Kershaw was honored by Dodgers fans in the final home opener of his remarkable career.

The two-time World Series champion and three-time Cy Young Award-winning pitcher stayed on the mound for four and a third innings of the Dodgers' 6x3 win over the San Francisco Giants.

The 37-year-old Texan gave up four hits, two runs and four bases on balls and struck out six visiting batters.

After Dodgers manager Dave Roberts gave the signal that Kershaw's night was over, the 53,000 spectators rose to their feet and gave him more than three minutes of applause.

Amid hugs from his teammates, Kershaw removed his cap to wave to the fans as he made his way to the dugout.

Just a day earlier, the pitcher announced his retirement at the end of this season, his 18th in the majors, all of them with the popular Angel franchise.