TORONTO — A day after leading the Yankees to a come-from-behind victory, Juan Soto was removed from the lineup with a bruised right hand.
X-rays taken Saturday afternoon came back normal, but Soto was battling inflammation from a hard hit to his right hand while sliding into home plate during Friday’s game against the Blue Jays.
Soto may not be fully recovered yet, but he received treatment throughout the day in hopes that the swelling will go down.
“My concern is his hand is swollen and he didn’t swing very well today,” manager Aaron Boone said after the NBA’s 9-3 loss to the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. “So hopefully he just hit his hand and it’s inflamed. Hopefully it heals up and it’s nothing serious, but you never know.”
No further tests are scheduled, but Boone left open the possibility that Soto could undergo further imaging tests when the Yankees return to New York on Monday if he is still experiencing discomfort.
Soto finished Friday’s game without incident. Two innings after hurting his hand, he hit a three-run homer, his 20th of the season, to give the Yankees the lead and a 16-5 victory.
But the MVP candidate woke up Saturday morning with swelling that interfered with his swing before the game and led to him being removed from the starting lineup just before the first pitch.
“I know he took some swings before the game, but it wasn’t enough to get him out there today,” Boone said. “We’ll see. Obviously he got a lot of treatment today leading up to the evening, so we’ll see how it goes.” [Sunday].”
This marks the second time the Yankees have dealt Soto an injury scare this season.
He missed three games earlier this season with left forearm/elbow inflammation but is batting .302 with a 1.004 OPS in 81 games since Saturday’s start.
Soto’s hand injury comes as the Yankees lose their core lineup to injuries, losing Giancarlo Stanton (strained hamstring) and Anthony Rizzo (broken arm) in the past two weeks.
“Having him in the lineup is going to be very important to us winning this year,” catcher Austin Wells said. “Having him stay healthy is going to be a big help.” [would be] wonderful.”
Soto has only missed three games this season after an MRI earlier this month revealed forearm/elbow inflammation — he missed the Yankees-Dodgers showdown and the Yankees sorely missed him, but he returned the next day against the Royals.
In the 17 games since resting his forearm, Soto is batting just .231 with an .897 OPS and three home runs, but he looked good on Friday night when he hit a game-changing, three-run homer off Yusei Kikuchi.
