Juan Soto has elbow inflammation and is out of the lineup, but will not be on the Yankees’ injured list

NEW YORK — Yankees slugger Juan Soto has elbow inflammation and not a serious injury like a torn ligament, a relief for the team and its fans.

Soto was not a starter for the first time this season when New York opened a high-profile series against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said the three-time All-Star outfielder was day-to-day and will not be placed on the injured list.

“In the grand scheme of things, we have good news. Just some inflammation,” Boone said. “There might have been some anxious moments there.”

Soto was removed from Thursday night 8-5 win over Minnesota after five innings due to discomfort in his left forearm. Soto said after the game the forearm on his throwing arm had been bothering him for about a week and a half or two weeks.

He felt sore during a 56-minute rain delay against the Twins and was examined by the team’s chief physician, Dr. About 20 minutes before the restart, the Yankees decided to send him for testing.

“Once he gets hot and starts working, they work on him, the hitting and pitching in the game is fine. It’s getting to that point and waking up the next morning a little sore. Different movements, kind of stiff,” Boone said. “The rain delay happens and it’s like, ‘I have to go through this process again.’ Dr. Ahmad was here, so I thought, ‘Hey, why don’t we make these images of this?’ And I think there is some peace of mind for him, for example, why does this still persist?

Soto started all 64 games in his first season with New York after being acquired from San Diego in December.

“I’m kind of just working on it,” he said Thursday night. “It’s kind of funny. It doesn’t hurt when I throw or hit. It’s more like a pain to feel any kind of movement I make with my arm. But it definitely doesn’t stop me from anything baseball related.”

Soto is batting .318 with 17 home runs and 53 RBIs, helping the Yankees to a major league-leading 45-19 record.

“We all decided not to go back to work after an hour, sit here, start getting hot again, warm up,” Soto said. “We didn’t want to risk anything like that, so we decided to stop.”

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