Yankees slugger Juan Soto exits game with left forearm discomfort, will undergo imaging Friday

NEW YORK (AP) — Yankees slugger Juan Soto was removed from Thursday night’s game against the Minnesota Twins with left forearm discomfort.

Soto will undergo imaging Friday. New York manager Aaron Boone said it’s too early to tell if the right fielder will need to miss time.

“I don’t know what it’s going to show,” Soto said. “Just woke up one day, felt the tightness and discomfort in my forearm and we’ve been working on it and we’ve been trying to get away with it, and it hasn’t (gone away).”

Soto was lifted to start the top of the sixth inning when play resumed following 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 victory, Soto said his forearm has been bothering him for about 1 1/2 or two weeks.

“Kind of just been grinding through it,” he said. “It’s kind of funny. It doesn’t hurt when I throw, or hitting, it’s more like soreness that I feel any kind of move that I make with my arm. But it definitely doesn’t stop me from anything baseball-wise.”

Soto, who throws and bats left-handed, was 0 for 1 with two walks. He has 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 ballpark and checked Soto during the rain delay. Soto said he’s never had a similar issue with his forearm.

“We all decided to not start getting work again after an hour, sitting down here, start getting hot again, warming it up,” Soto said. “We didn’t want to risk anything like that, so we just decided to stop.”

The three-time All-Star is batting .318 with 17 home runs and 53 RBIs, a big reason the Yankees have the best record in baseball at 45-19.

“I think everyone’s a little concerned. Hopefully, he’s alright,” Yankees pitcher Marcus Stroman said. “Just going to put all the good energy out in the world.”

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

Mike Fitzpatrick, The Associated Press