Juan Soto scratched from lineup with hand bruise in Yankees injury worry

TORONTO — A day after leading a comeback victory, Juan Soto was a late scratch from the Yankees’ lineup.

Instead of batting second in the Yankees’ 9-3 loss to the Blue Jays on Saturday, Soto was removed from the lineup shortly before first pitch and sent for initial imaging on a right hand bruise that he suffered sliding into home plate Friday night.

Two innings after hurting his hand, Soto went on to crush a three-run home run — his 20th of the season — that gave the Yankees a lead and sent them to a 16-5 win at Rogers Centre .

This marks the second injury scare the Yankees have had with Soto this season.

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The MVP contender missed three games earlier this season with inflammation in his left forearm/elbow , but came into Saturday batting .302 with a 1.004 OPS across 81 games.

The hand injury occurred in the fourth inning Friday on a heady baserunning play by Soto and Judge. On a ground ball to second, Judge held up between first and second to avoid the easy double play, then got into a pickle that allowed Soto to score all the way from second base.

Soto dove into home with his left hand to miss the tag by catcher Danny Jansen and then slammed his right hand.

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He was seen shaking his hand out in the dugout afterward, but he finished the game and collected a pair of hits before the night was over.

Instead of bumping everyone up in the lineup, Aaron Boone instead slotted rookie Ben Rice into the two-hole ahead of Judge while Oswaldo Cabrera started in right field.

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Soto’s hand scare comes at a time when the Yankees have already lost Giancarlo Stanton (hamstring strain) and Anthony Rizzo (arm fracture) to injuries in the last two weeks, weakening the middle of their lineup.

The only three games Soto has missed this season came after he underwent an MRI that revealed forearm/elbow inflammation earlier this month.

He sat out the Yankees’ showdown against the Dodgers, a series in which they sorely missed him, but returned the next day against the Royals.

In 17 games since resting his forearm, Soto was batting .231 with a .897 OPS and three home runs, but he looked just fine on Friday night when he clobbered a three-run homer off Yusei Kikuchi.

The shot in the arm gave the Yankees a lead and set off a six-run rally that inning.

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