Juan Soto not in Yankees starting lineup with left knee soreness

OAKLAND — About 15 minutes before the scheduled first pitch of Friday’s game, Juan Soto made the long walk through the center-field gates of the Coliseum, testing his swollen left knee in the batting cage. With each successful swing, his confidence grew, the slugger set to report good news once he returned to the dugout.

Soto bent manager Aaron Boone’s ear in the early innings, insisting that he could provide one good at-bat if the Yankees needed a hit, then reiterated that belief a few more times. The opportunity came in the 10th inning, and Soto delivered, belting a pinch-hit RBI double that helped power the Yankees to a 4-2, 10-inning win over the Athletics.

“Showman-like,” said right-hander Gerrit Cole. “He loves the moment. Man, he loves it.”

Soto, who exited immediately for a pinch-runner, has shown a knack for swapping pain for dramatic moments in this first season with the Bombers.

Friday’s cinematic moment represented the latest installment, coming after Soto was in the Yankees’ original lineup but was scratched pregame due to swelling and soreness in his left knee.

“I tried to get my knee going; that was the biggest thing,” Soto said. “I didn’t worry about anything else but my knee. I want to make sure I’m feeling good whenever I step on that plate. So I did anything I had to do in the gym, then went out there and tried to do my best.”

“It was awesome. What, he couldn’t play the whole game?” joked catcher Austin Wells. “Just a piece-of-cake double. We’re glad he’s healthy, and he did a great job coming in off the bench.”

Soto sustained a bruise while making a dazzling seventh-inning catch in Thursday’s loss to the Mariners at T-Mobile Park, during which he slid into a concrete wall down the right-field line. X-rays taken earlier on Friday were negative, and no additional testing is scheduled.

“It’s always scary [to get X-rays],” Soto said. “It’s always part of it. Definitely, we hoped for the best. But you know anything can happen. When I saw that it came back negative, it was definitely a relief.”

During the first few innings on Friday, Soto was pleasantly surprised by how his knee had responded to treatment.

“We tried the gym, did some squats and stuff, and it reacted pretty well,” Soto said. “Throughout the game, I was feeling good. It wasn’t sore or anything, after all the work that we put in. That’s when I knew I had a good chance to be an option.”

Boone said that he was encouraged about Soto’s status after speaking with Michael Schuk, the club’s director of sports medicine and rehabilitation.

“It’s not something [Schuk] is concerned with long-term here. It’s just a day-to-day thing,” Boone said before the game. “Again, hopefully he’s even available tonight in some capacity.”

Was he ever. Soto said that he is not sure if he will be in Saturday’s lineup, noting that he needs to see how the knee responds overnight. If we’ve learned anything thus far, it should be this: even on days Soto isn’t in the batting order, it’s a good bet that he’ll find his way into the box score, usually with big-time results.

“We will see how I wake up,” Soto said. “These guys did a pretty good job today getting the swelling down and everything.”