Juan Soto delivers dramatic double after being late scratch from Yankees’ lineup with knee issue

OAKLAND, Calif. — Juan Soto’s sliding catch on Thursday cost him a start Friday, but not the entire night.

After being a late scratch to the Yankees’ lineup Friday because of swelling and soreness in his left knee that he slammed against the wall at T-Mobile Park the day before, Soto showed enough improvement to enter the game as a pinch-hitter in the 10th inning.

In a surprise to no one, Soto came through in the dramatic moment, drilling an RBI double the other way that drove in what turned out to be the winning run in the Yankees’ 4-2 victory over the A’s at the Coliseum.

“We tried the knee early before the game,” Soto said. “We went to the cage, hit a little bit. We tried out the gym, too, we did some squats and stuff. It reacted pretty well.

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“So throughout the game I was feeling good, it wasn’t sore or anything after all the work we put in. That’s when I knew I had a good chance to be an option.”

X-rays were negative on Soto’s knee, but he still had some swelling and soreness Friday that, following pregame treatment and exercises, led the Yankees to play it cautiously and keep him on the bench, at least to start the night.

But Soto came to Aaron Boone around mid-game after getting his work in and told his manager that he could be an option for a pinch-hit spot if the Yankees needed it. Boone said he wasn’t going to do it if there was just a man on second in the 10th, figuring the A’s would just walk him, but once the Yankees put runners on the corners, Soto walked out for his big moment.

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“I know we clinched [a playoff spot], but at the end of the day, the goal is to win the division,” Soto said. “We are really close [to] that. I didn’t think about any day off or anything like that, but we’re trying to be smart too and think about October.”

Soto appeared to move well in running to second base. He said he had “a little bit of soreness, but not as bad as it was this morning.”

Whether he gets back into the lineup Saturday depends on how he wakes up, he said.

With just over a week left in the regular season, as they try to pin down the AL East and head into October on a high note, the Yankees could ill afford being without Soto for long.

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“Not overly [concerned about it long-term],” Boone said before the game. “Even in talking to [director of sports medicine and rehab Mike Schuk], it’s not something he’s concerned with long-term here. Just a day-to-day thing.”

In hindsight, the Yankees gladly would have taken the ball dropping for a foul — trailing the Mariners 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh — rather than Soto putting his body at risk, especially at this point in the season. But that is easier said than done for Soto, who also has plenty at stake less than two months away from hitting free agency.

Boone also said that Soto may have saved himself from something worse by sliding into the wall.

“More than you know, guys do a good job of knowing how to protect themselves and play smart in certain situations,” Boone said. “I actually think him getting down the way he did protected him a little bit. Obviously he bruised it and he’s out today, but the way he did it actually avoided a bad situation.”

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