NEW YORK (AP) Yankees slugger Juan Soto was held out of Thursday night’s game against the Minnesota Twins because of discomfort in his left forearm.
Soto will undergo imaging tests on Friday. New York coach Aaron Boone said it’s too early to say whether the right fielder will need to miss time.
“I don’t know what this is going to show,” Soto said. “I just woke up one day and felt tightness and discomfort in my forearm and we’ve been working on it and trying to get away with it, and it hasn’t (gone away).”
Soto was lifted to start the sixth inning when the game resumed after a 56-minute rain delay. Aaron Judge moved from left field to Soto’s spot in right, and Alex Verdugo came off the bench to play left.
After the Yankees won 8-5 for their season-high eighth straight win, Soto said his forearm has been bothering him for about a week and a half or two weeks.
“I’m kind of just working on it,” he said. “It’s kind of funny. It doesn’t hurt when I throw, or hit, it’s more like a pain that I feel with any type of movement I make with my arm. But it definitely doesn’t stop me from anything baseball related.”
Soto, who pitches and hits left-handed, went 0 for 1 with two walks. He started all 64 games in his first season with New York after being acquired from the San Diego Padres in a blockbuster trade last December.
Yankees physician Dr. Christopher Ahmad was at the stadium and examined Soto during the rain delay. Soto said he has never had a similar forearm problem.
“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 something like that, so we decided to stop.”
The three-time All-Star is batting .318 with 17 home runs and 53 RBIs, a big reason why the Yankees have the best record in baseball at 45-19.
“I think everyone is a little worried. Hopefully he’s OK,” Yankees pitcher Marcus Stroman said. “I’m just going to release all the good energy in the world.”
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