X-rays on Soto's hand clean; star likely to sit today
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TORONTO -- There was cautious optimism in the Yankees’ clubhouse when Juan Soto returned from having a series of X-rays taken, his swollen right hand having forced him out of the lineup just 20 minutes before the club’s 9-3 loss to the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.
The results came back clean, manager Aaron Boone said, though Soto is continuing to undergo treatment and may not be available for Sunday’s series finale. Boone said that Soto might have further testing performed on Monday in New York, but that has not been scheduled yet.
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“Having him in the lineup is going to be very key for us going deep in the year, so for him to be healthy, that’s great,” said catcher Austin Wells, reacting to the news of Soto’s negative X-rays.
Soto sustained the injury on a fourth-inning slide into home plate Friday night, scoring on J.D. Davis’ groundout. He played the rest of the Bombers’ 16-5 victory, including crushing a go-ahead three-run homer in the sixth inning off lefty Yusei Kikuchi.
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According to Boone, Soto got through the game fine and had no issues overnight. The hand had swelled up by Saturday morning, and Soto had a rough batting practice session that prompted the Yanks to take him out of the lineup.
“He took some swings pregame, and it just wasn’t good enough to go today,” Boone said. “Obviously, [Soto will have] a lot of treatment today into tonight. We’ll see what we have tomorrow.”
This marks the second injury scare of the season for Soto, who played in all 162 games last year with the Padres.
Soto missed the Yanks’ June 7-9 series against the Dodgers with soreness in his left forearm, saying that he had been playing through discomfort for one to two weeks.
The Yanks lost two of those three games to the Dodgers, managing just four runs across the losses.
A leading candidate to start in the American League outfield during next month’s All-Star Game, Soto is slashing .302/.434/.570 with 20 home runs and 60 RBIs in 81 games.
Soto leads the Majors in on-base percentage, walks (69) and times on base (159). He ranks second in runs scored (68) and third in WAR among position players per FanGraphs (4.9) and OPS (1.004).