'What a magnificent hitter': Soto's 4 hits spark Yanks out of break

NEW YORK -- Juan Soto stood on second base as he glanced into the home dugout, pointing at his eyes, then thumping his chest and sending his index fingers skyward. As the Yankees returned to action following the All-Star break, their superstar outfielder put on a show.

“Man, he’s worth the price of admission, to say the least,” said ace Gerrit Cole. “What a magnificent hitter.”

Soto enjoyed a four-hit performance to help support Cole’s strong outing in a 6-1 victory over the Rays on Friday night at Yankee Stadium. Soto singled twice, including a bunt, then added a pair of doubles -- including a so-called “Little League home run” that saw him waved home after a couple of errors.

“Any time I can get on, either way, I’m going to try it,” Soto said. “If they give it to me, I’ll take it.”

The victory started the Bombers off nicely after they limped into the break with 18 losses in 26 games, including a heartbreaker on Sunday in Baltimore. Yankees manager Aaron Boone addressed the team after that defeat, describing his message as: “Let’s give it all we’ve got now.”

“We’re not totally at the sprint point of the season, but almost 100 games into this thing now,” Boone said. “We’ve gone through a tough stretch that we certainly acknowledge and know we need to play better. I feel like on that trip, it started, and hopefully we’ll turn the corner and get back rolling.”

The bats delivered in a four-run third inning, breaking through after Tampa Bay starter Zach Eflin evaded trouble in the first two frames. After two walks and Soto’s bunt single, Alex Verdugo grounded out with the bases loaded to put New York on the board, then Anthony Volpe ripped a three-run double down the left-field line.

It was a meaningful hit for Volpe, the Gold Glove Award-winning shortstop whose error on a routine grounder helped the Orioles stun the Yanks on Sunday at Camden Yards.

“That was massive,” said catcher Austin Wells. “It was huge for us, huge for him. It really blew the doors open.”

Soto delighted in the bunt, a piece of his game that he has flashed several times in recent weeks. As he said, “Definitely, I have it right there in my back pocket.” Boone recalled that this spring, when a half dozen Yankees gathered to practice squaring on pitches, bench coach Brad Ausmus reported: “I think he’s the best one out there.”

“More times than not, we’ll feed him money to bunt. That’s fine,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “But that one, it worked out where they got enough guys on base and came up with a big hit. Those two guys in the middle, [Soto and Aaron Judge], it’s very challenging.”

That was everything Cole needed, celebrating his Cy Young bobblehead night by turning in his second straight start of six innings and one run.

Making his sixth start since returning from a right elbow injury, Cole scattered six hits, walked one and struck out eight, touched only by Brandon Lowe’s solo home run in the sixth inning.

“I had a little bit of everything working,” Cole said. “Once we got a lead, we started attacking the zone. It was pretty good. There were a few deep counts after the third; I’d like to get those outs a little bit more efficiently, but for the most part it was pretty good.”

Cole acknowledged that he had to battle his emotions, biting his tongue after being charged with a pitch timer violation in the second inning. Though cooler heads prevailed, Cole fumed at home-plate umpire Quinn Wolcott, and Wells intervened, fearing Cole could be ejected.

“I was fired up,” Cole said. “I was desperately trying to calm back down. Quinn did a better job with it than I did, that’s for sure.”

Soto trotted home in the fourth inning after doubling to deep left-center, advancing to third base as Randy Arozarena misplayed the ball in left then being waved home when Richie Palacios’ relay throw hit him in the back and bounced into the Rays’ dugout.

In 34 career at-bats against Eflin, Soto has now collected 17 hits (.500). They matched up frequently during their time in the National League East, when Soto was with the Nationals and Eflin was with the Phillies.

“I just hit mistakes,” Soto said. “I think he threw a couple of mistakes, and I just hammered it.”

Facing Shawn Armstrong, Soto doubled ahead of Judge’s run-scoring single in the sixth, then reached base again with an eighth-inning walk. It was Soto’s second four-hit game as a Yankee, raising his batting average from .295 to .303.

“He’s a special player,” Wells said. “Every time he goes up to the plate, you don’t expect him to get out, honestly.”