After some delay, Juan Soto remained out of the Yankees’ lineup for Sunday’s series finale against the Blue Jays.
The team waited a while to release its batting order, as Soto went through his pregame routine. The slugger was scratched from Saturday’s game after suffering a bruise on his right hand in Friday’s game.
X-rays came back clean on Saturday, but the right fielder had some swelling. On Sunday, Soto said he felt better. However, he may get an MRI or a CT scan during the Yankees’ off day on Monday, according to MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch.
“The one thing I don’t want him doing is compromising his swing,” Boone told reporters, per Hoch. “If it’s something where he’s just feeling some soreness, we’ll certainly wait on that. We know how important he is to our lineup.”
With Soto out of the lineup and the Yankees looking for a series split in Toronto, Boone had first baseman Ben Rice hitting second, Soto’s slot. Meanwhile, Aaron Judge was penciled in to right field with Trent Grisham in center.
Soto hurt his hand on Friday when J.D. Davis hit what looked to be an inning-ending double play in the fourth. Judge, coming from first, got into a rundown on the play. That allowed Soto to score from third, but he forcefully slammed his right, unpadded hand into the ground as he pulled off an evasive slide at the plate.
Soto did not exit that game, but he did not feel comfortable swinging a bat before Saturday’s contest.
Soto has been enjoying his first season with the Yankees, hitting .302/.434/.570 with 20 home runs and 60 RBI.
ANOTHER BULLPEN MOVE
The Yankees kept reshuffling their bullpen Sunday morning, designating Phil Bickford for assignment. The righty had pitched poorly over five major league games, recording a 14.40 ERA following a strong stretch at Triple-A.
Josh Maciejewski replaced Bickford on the Yankees’ roster. The lefty has a 5.35 ERA over 16 games between Double-A and Triple-A this season. Maciejewski also threw a scoreless inning for the Yankees earlier in the year.
In addition, the Bombers transferred JT Brubaker’s rehab assignment (Tommy John surgery) from the Florida Complex League to Double-A Somerset.