“We’ve been trying to get away with it and it hasn’t gone [away],’’ said Soto, adding he woke up with the discomfort and it was not related to any baseball play.
It came on a night in which the Yankees completed another sweep of the Twins and also extended their lead in the AL East over Baltimore to 4½ games, their largest of the year and surpassed the idle Phillies for the best record in the majors (45-19).
Much of that has been because of the fearsome 1-2 punch of Soto and Aaron Judge.
Judge has stayed healthy and the durable Soto has played every game so far this season in his first year with the Yankees — and he didn’t miss a game all last year with the Padres.
He was replaced by Alex Verdugo.
Asked if an IL stint might be required, Boone said it was “way too early” to know.
Jasson Dominguez is at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, finishing off his rehab from last year’s Tommy John surgery and could be a possible option if Soto has to go down.
As for the game, the Yankees completed a season sweep of Minnesota and improved to 123-44 against their AL Central foes since 2002, including the postseason.
![Yankees' grounds crew put the tarp on the field during a rain delay that nearly lasted an hour.]()
Yankees’ grounds crew put the tarp on the field during a rain delay that nearly lasted an hour
Tommy Kahnle found himself in trouble with two on and two out in the eighth, but Anthony Volpe made a terrific play to his right on a sharp grounder by Carlos Correa to get the force at second and preserve a three-run lead.
They also got three RBIs from little-used Trent Grisham, who was just 2-for-39 on the season coming into the game.
The offense helped overcome Marcus Stroman’s shaky performance, as the right-hander allowed a season-high five runs in just 4 ²/₃ innings.
![Aaron Judge slides safely into home to score on Gleyber Torres' two-run double in the third inning of the Yankees' victory.]()
Aaron Judge slides safely into home to score on Gleyber Torres’ two-run double in the third inning of the Yankees’ victory
Stroman allowed a pair of solo homers in the first three innings before he was unable to finish an ugly top of the fifth, done in by two doubles and a hit by pitch.
But it didn’t matter, as the Yankees pummeled Minnesota right-hander Pablo Lopez for seven runs in four innings, highlighted by Grisham’s two-run shot in the second and a three-run third sparked by Gleyber Torres’ two-run double.
With the game tied at 2-2, Soto, Judge and Giancarlo Stanton walked to lead off the bottom of the third.
![Trent Grisham rounds the bases after hitting a two-run homer in the first inning of the Yankees' win.]()
Trent Grisham rounds the bases after hitting a two-run homer in the first inning of the Yankees’ win
Torres bounced a one-out chopper past first base and down the right field line for a two-run double.
Austin Wells followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 5-2 and the Yankees made it 7-2 in the fourth.
But Stroman fell apart an inning later, as he allowed three of the first four hitters to score.
A sacrifice fly in the bottom of the inning by Grisham gave the Yankees an 8-5 lead before five Yankees relievers combined to throw 5 ¹/₃ shutout innings to finish the win.
“I feel we’re a pretty confident group,’’ Stroman said. “I think when we go out, we expect to win.”
So far, that attitude has worked well this season.
They could be up against a new kind of challenge in the coming days, as they wait to see the severity of Soto’s injury.
