What Injured Juan Soto Told Aaron Boone Before Delivering Huge Yankees Hit

Outfielder Juan Soto of the New York Yankees was in the starting lineup for Friday’s game, even though he hurt his knee while making an amazing catch sliding into the right field wall at the Oakland Coliseum on Thursday.

Until he wasn’t.

Soto was not in the lineup because his knee hurt, so the Yankees took him out. It didn’t stop Soto, though. He got treatment and did a routine before the game.

“We tried the knee early before the game,” he said. “We went to the cage and hit a few times.” We also did some squats and other things at the gym. It worked pretty well.

“So I was feeling good the whole game.” After all the work we did, it wasn’t hurt or anything. That’s when I knew I had a good chance of being a choice.

It was a close game; it was tied 1–1 until the top of the 10th inning. Soto went up to Yankees manager Aaron Boone in the bench early in the game.

“Juan came to me early in the game and said, ‘If we need a hit, big spot, late, I’m good,'” Baseball manager Aaron Boone said.

Soto kept his word and hit an RBI double in a pinch, making the Yankees’ lead 3–1. In the end, the team would add one more run to the score.It was Boone’s choice not to put Soto in to start the inning with the automatic runner on second because he was afraid the Athletics would walk the Yankees’ star batter.

“When the lefty (T.J. McFarland) came in, I was like, ‘Nah.'” Then I thought, “But it’s Juan Soto.” I thought they had to pitch to him when we were on first and third with no outs.

“I felt like it was the time.”

Soto, who hit a double, said the knee held up pretty well.

“A little bit of soreness, but not as bad as it was this morning.”

An X-ray of Soto’s knee showed nothing wrong. Reporters asked Soto if he would be in the lineup on Saturday, and he said, “I’ll see how I wake up.”

He has played 150 games for New York this season and has hit.288/.419/.577 with 120 runs scored, 40 home runs, 104 RBIs, and 124 walks. Five wins would be enough for the Yankees to clinch the American League East, and they did that on Wednesday.