Juan Soto is barely old enough to be in college Seahawks Elite Jerseys , let alone lighting it up at Yankee Stadium.

The teenage rookie homered twice and drove in four runs, becoming the youngest player in 29 years to go deep in a regular-season game in the Bronx, and the Washington Nationals beat New York 5-4 on Wednesday night.

After getting a game off Tuesday, his first in three-plus weeks as a major leaguer, a refreshed Soto showed exactly why he was rated one of baseball’s best prospects.

”I’ll start off by saying, Soto is really good. How’s that?” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. ”He understands the game. He understands good at-bats.”

With family from New York in the crowd of 45,030, the 19-year-old outfielder from the Dominican Republic lofted a three-run homer into the left-field corner off Sonny Gray in the fourth inning to give Washington – shut out in its previous two games – a 4-3 lead.

Soto then launched a titanic shot in the seventh against Chasen Shreve (2-1), putting the Nationals back in front 5-4.

Projected at 436 feet, the drive soared to the back of a standing-room terrace above and beyond the Yankees’ bullpen in right-center. It also ended a 23-inning scoreless streak for New York relievers and made Soto (19 years, 231 days old) the youngest player in Nationals history to have a multihomer game.

”Strong kid,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.

Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. was 19 years, 190 days old when he homered (also twice) for Seattle at old Yankee Stadium on May 30, 1989. Andruw Jones was 19 as well when he hit two home runs there for Atlanta in Game 1 of the 1996 World Series.

”It feels pretty good. Two good outfielders,” Soto said. ”I like that.”

Called up from Double-A Harrisburg on May 20 Vita Vea Jersey Elite , Soto is batting .344 with five homers and 12 RBIs.

”He has power. Super young. Good hitter,” Shreve said. ”I didn’t do my job. We lost the game because of it.”

New York got a long home run from its own impressive rookie, 21-year-old Gleyber Torres, to tie it at 4 in the fifth. Greg Bird also hit a solo homer and Giancarlo Stanton had three hits for the Yankees, including an RBI single.

Adam Eaton and Matt Adams had three hits apiece for the Nationals, who made five outs on the bases but still won to split the two-game interleague series between World Series contenders. The teams meet again next Monday in Washington to complete a May 15 matchup suspended with the score tied 3-all in the sixth inning and to make up a May 16 rainout.

Justin Miller (4-0) struck out four in 1 2/3 innings on his 31st birthday.

”Pretty nice,” Miller said. ”I guess I’m just in the weeds – I keep snaking wins.”

Sammy Solis knocked down Brett Gardner’s comebacker with a runner on third for the final out of the seventh. Ryan Madson pitched out of trouble in the eighth and Sean Doolittle worked a perfect ninth for his 17th save in 18 chances.

New York lost for only the fifth time in its last 23 home games.

Nationals rookie Erick Fedde allowed four runs and six hits in five innings. Pitching in place of injured ace Stephen Strasburg, the right-hander was recalled from Triple-A Syracuse before the game to make his fifth major league start and second this season.

AGE IS ONLY A NUMBER

Soto became the youngest big leaguer with a multihomer game in the regular season since Jones against Cincinnati in August 1996 – and the youngest player with four RBIs since Hall of Famer Robin Yount was 19 for Milwaukee in 1975. ”It’s unbelievable, honestly,” Fedde said. ”Special kid and I’m excited to play with him hopefully for the next couple of years.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Nationals: As expected, Bryce Harper was back in the lineup after leaving Tuesday night’s loss in the eighth inning when he was hit by a pitch for the second time. The slugger was plunked on the right elbow and left foot but said afterward he was fine and there were ”no ill feelings at all.” Washington pitchers made no apparent attempt to retaliate Wednesday. Harper went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts. … Daniel Murphy (right knee surgery) was the DH again after going hitless Tuesday in his season debut. ”He’s ready to play, so we’re going to play him. Nice to have that bat in the lineup,” Martinez said. Murphy went 0 for 3 with a walk. … Strasburg (right shoulder inflammation) is working out back home, Martinez said.

Yankees: Slumping catcher Gary Sanchez sat out for the second consecutive game, with backup Austin Romine catching Gray as usual. After a three-day breather Customized Miami Dolphins Jerseys , Sanchez will be back in the lineup Thursday, Boone said.

UP NEXT

Nationals: Following a day off, Washington resumes its AL East road trip in Toronto with LHP Gio Gonzalez (6-2, 2.65 ERA) pitching Friday night against RHP Aaron Sanchez (3-5, 4.33).

Yankees: Still looking for his first major league win, rookie right-hander Domingo German (0-4, 5.32 ERA) starts Thursday night in the opener of a four-game series against Tampa Bay. LHP Blake Snell (8-3, 2.30) goes for the Rays.

—

Thon Maker is having his biggest games at the biggest time of the year.

Not bad for a bench guy and someone who, as recently as last week, was a roster afterthought.

Maker had never blocked five shots in any NBA game before this postseason began – and now he’s blocked that many in each of the last two playoff contests for the Milwaukee Bucks. There’s an old coaching adage that tells players to stay ready, because they never know when their chance to make an impact has arrived.

Maker is proving that axiom to be correct.

”Just trying to be there for my teammates, playing aggressive,” said Maker, the Bucks’ backup center. ”It’s the playoffs. These are the moments everybody plays for. You’ve got to find a way to win, you’ve got to find a way to impact the game. I try to do that every single time.”

Maker is almost an out-of-nowhere story for the Bucks Youth Terrelle Pryor Sr. Jersey , who’ve pulled even with the Boston Celtics four games into their Eastern Conference first-round series in large part because of a defensive resurgence by the bench. His offense has helped, too: Maker scored 14 points in a Game 3 victory, his highest total since a 16-point effort on New Year’s Day.

There have been some big games from reserve players in these playoffs already: Miami has gotten games of 28 and 25 points from Dwyane Wade and a 26-point effort from Kelly Olynyk, Philadelphia has seen Marco Belinelli reach 21 points twice so far, and Boston saw Greg Monroe get a double-double against the Bucks in only 23 minutes.

Backups can find themselves in the spotlight quickly if they get hot.

”When we step on the floor, we need to be assertive with what we do,” Bucks coach Joe Prunty said. ”We can’t be a step behind.”

Even the greatest players need help.

LeBron James said everyone on the Cavaliers‘ roster – himself included – needed to play better after falling behind Indiana 2-1 in their series. So in Game 4, James was great with 32 points, and Jordan Clarkson had 12 of the bench’s 32 points to help Cleveland tie the series .

”I’m supposed to come and give a spark off the bench,” said Clarkson, who scored just two points in Game 3. ”That’s what I’m supposed to do, change the game in that way.”

Toronto had one of the top bench units in the NBA during the regular season, ranking fifth in the league with a combined 41.8 scoring average. But in the East’s No. 1 seed’s first-round series, the Raptors‘ reserve scoring down to 34.5 points.

They’re tied at 2 in the series with the eighth-seeded Washington Wizards, whose bench scoring is up in the series by about the same margin to 34.3 points. The Wizards were just 16th in bench scoring this season.

A big reason for Toronto’s problems has been the absence of backup point guard Fred VanVleet Authentic Vita Vea Jersey , who has an injured right shoulder and played just three minutes so far, sitting out three of the four games entirely. Raptors coach Dwane Casey blamed his team’s high turnover totals – 37 over Games 3 and 4, both losses – in large part on his reserves, who he also thought were not as productive with the ball as they could have been.

”The second unit turned down some shots that they normally take,” Casey said. ”I thought that group started the turnovers. The levee broke on those guys. I’ve got to do a better job of putting them in the right situation where they don’t turn it over.”

The Wizards tinkered with their rotations to try to keep the Raptors’ reserves in check.

”Our bench has done a good job and we’ve kind of tried to change things up and throw maybe a starter or two with our bench,” Washington coach Scott Brooks said.

As for the Celtics, they’re back in Boston to get ready to host the Bucks on Tuesday night for Game 5. Their frontcourt reserves of Monroe and Marcus Morris were dominant in the series’ second game last week, when it looked as if Boston might pull off a sweep.

Milwaukee’s reserves have pushed back with active, physical play – matching Boston’s intensity.

”As soon as (we) see that,” Maker said, ”we start to get aggressive as well on the defensive end.”

—

AP Sports Writers Howard Fendrich and Michael Marot contributed to this story.

—

.