Juan Soto exits game with left forearm discomfort

NEW YORK — Heading into the 56-minute rain delay on Thursday night vs. Minnesota, the Yankees were riding the high of a bounceback fifth inning, responding after the Twins threatened to close the gap on their early advantage. On the other side of the delay, New York’s starpower was noticeably diminished, as Juan Soto exited with left forearm discomfort when the top of the sixth finally got underway. Alex Verdugo took his place in the lineup.

After the Yankees’ 8-5 win, Soto and manager Aaron Boone shared that the right fielder had been dealing with the soreness for 1-2 weeks. During the rain delay, Soto and team physician Dr. Chris Ahmad decided that it was best to pull him out of caution. He’ll undergo further imaging on Friday.

“We all decided to not start getting warmed up again after an hour sitting down here [in the clubhouse],” Soto said. “We didn’t want to risk anything like that, so we just decided to stop.”

Boone said: “It’s just been something that’s been bothering him for the last week or so, he’s been getting treatment on it. It hasn’t really affected him in his baseball stuff, throwing or swinging or anything.”

Soto, who reached base safely with two walks in three plate appearances before exiting, was due to lead off the bottom of the sixth. There didn’t seem to be a preceding event on the field that triggered Soto’s removal. He made a couple of throws to second base in the top of the fifth, one from the right-field corner on Alex Kirilloff’s double, and another on Carlos Santana’s RBI single. The velocity on Soto’s throws on those plays was 75.3 mph and 58.4 mph, respectively.

According to Soto, there was not a single throw or swing that created cause for concern on Thursday night. He also said that he can’t remember an incident that caused the soreness when it first began a couple weeks ago, but that it has been lingering during his daily activities. Soto also shared that this was the first time in his career that he has felt this specific soreness in his forearm.

“I actually just woke up one day, felt the tightness and discomfort in my forearm,” Soto said. “We’ve been working on it, and we’ve been trying to get away with it and it hasn’t gone out.”

Soto entered Thursday night as one of the main talismans for the surging Bronx Bombers, who earned their eighth straight win. The left-handed slugger was slashing .365/.488/.841 in his past 18 games, crushing eight home runs and adding 19 RBIs and 16 walks.