BREAK: Juan Soto lost. Unable to swing deals looms large for Yanks
NEW YORK — Juan Soto seemed out of sorts. Unable to swing a bat due to inflammation in his left forearm, he spent Saturday evening in the dugout, keeping busy by refreshing Gerrit Cole’s Gatorade during a TV interview and advising Anthony Volpe before a bases-loaded at-bat.
While his efforts were appreciated, the Yankees are eagerly awaiting his return to the lineup. Soto’s absence was keenly felt for the second night in a row, as the Yankees struggled offensively in an 11-3 loss to the Dodgers at Yankee Stadium.
“It’s just a presence, right?” said outfielder Alex Verdugo. “[Soto provides] a good way to see all of a guy’s pitches early on. What Soto does, he drives the ball everywhere, so it’s a big bat out for us right now. But we always know when one guy is down, the next guy has to step up.”
Aaron Judge hit two home runs, extending his Major League lead to 23 with solo shots in the third and ninth innings. However, his performance was overshadowed by Teoscar Hernández, who had a stellar night.
A familiar adversary from his Blue Jays days, Hernández homered twice and drove in six runs, with a second-inning homer off Nestor Cortes and an eighth-inning grand slam off Tommy Kahnle.
Kiké Hernández also homered as the Yankees suffered their third series loss of the season. The Yankees had been unbeaten in their last ten series, going 9-0-1 since losing three of four games in Baltimore at the end of April.
“[Soto is] a huge part of the team, for sure,” said infielder Gleyber Torres. “We’ve missed a couple of opportunities. They’ve been pitching really well; they don’t make many mistakes. Tomorrow is another game and we’ve got to figure it out.”
Hernández’s grand slam followed Torres’ misplay of a Shohei Ohtani grounder at second base, marking his 10th error of the season and second in as many nights. Torres took responsibility for the grand slam, stating, “That was on me.”
“When Gleyber is at his very best, he plays free and easy,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Sometimes that gets him in a little bit of trouble, but it allows him to make a lot of plays.”
The game marked the most runs allowed by the Yankees this season, concluding with utilityman Oswaldo Cabrera making his pitching debut in the majors.
It wasn’t an ideal showing in front of at least four members of the Yankees’ last World Series-winning team. Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Alex Rodriguez, and CC Sabathia were all in attendance, though Dodgers fans made most of the noise.
“They were loud,” Verdugo said. “We had chances to take over the stadium again. If we get that big hit, get those big runs across, we’d give our fans something to cheer about.”
Boone thought Cortes was “all right,” despite the left-hander allowing four runs and seven hits over 5 1/3 innings — his roughest outing in the Bronx this year, after conceding just six runs (five earned) over his first six home starts.
The more pressing issue was the offense, which turned an eight-game winning streak into a 2023 flashback since Soto visited an MRI tube for a better look at his injured arm.
The Yankees finished Saturday’s game 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position, leaving 10 men on base. Including Friday’s 11-inning loss, they have gone just 1-for-15 with runners in scoring position against Dodgers pitching in the series — Judge’s 11th-inning hit being the lone success.
“We just haven’t cashed in,” Verdugo said. “That’s what good pitching teams do. They buckle down, and we’re seeing that right now.”
Given that, the Yankees’ most promising development took place in the trainers’ room, where Soto reported feeling “really good” after another day of treatment. Boone said that Soto would “probably” resume swinging a bat on Sunday, bringing him one step closer to the role in which his team needs him.
“It sounded like he felt a lot better today,” Boone said. “He went through his normal prep stuff and that went pretty well. We’ll see what we have tomorrow.”