Juan Soto’s hand injury still ‘concerning’ despite negative X-ray results

TORONTO — A day after leading a comeback victory, Juan Soto was a late scratch from the Yankees’ lineup with a bruised right hand.

X-rays on Saturday afternoon were negative, but Soto was dealing with some inflammation that stemmed from slamming his right hand when sliding into home plate in Friday’s win over the Blue Jays.

Soto may not be fully out of the woods just yet, but was receiving treatment throughout the day in hopes of reducing the swelling.

“Concerning, I know he’s got some swelling in there and swinging didn’t go real well today,” manager Aaron Boone said after a 9-3 loss to the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. “So hopefully it’s just that, it’s banging the hand and having some inflammation in there. Hopefully we can get that out of there and it’s not too big a thing, but we’ll see.”

No further tests were planned, but Boone left the door open to Soto’s getting more imaging when the Yankees get back to New York on Monday if he is still experiencing discomfort.

Soto finished Friday’s game without much of an issue. Two innings after hurting his hand, he crushed a three-run home run — his 20th of the season — that gave the Yankees a lead and sent them to a 16-5 win.

But the MVP contender woke up Saturday morning with some swelling and then had trouble swinging before the game, which led to his being scratched from the lineup shortly before first pitch.

“I know he took some swings pregame and it just wasn’t good enough to go today,” Boone said. “We’ll see. Obviously a lot of treatment today, into the night, so we’ll see what we have [Sunday].”

This marks the second injury scare the Yankees have had with Soto this season.

He missed three games earlier this season with inflammation in his left forearm/elbow, but began Saturday batting .302 with a 1.004 OPS across 81 games.

Soto’s hand scare comes at a time when the Yankees have already lost Giancarlo Stanton (hamstring strain) and Anthony Rizzo (arm fracture) to injuries in the last two weeks, weakening the middle of their lineup.

“Having him in the lineup is going to be very key to us going deep in the year,” catcher Austin Wells said. “For him to be healthy, that [would be] great.”

The only three games Soto has missed this season came after he underwent an MRI that revealed forearm/elbow inflammation earlier this month. He sat out the Yankees’ showdown against the Dodgers, a series in which they sorely missed him, but returned the next day against the Royals.

In 17 games since resting his forearm, Soto is batting .231 with a .897 OPS and three home runs, but he looked just fine Friday night when he clobbered a three-run homer off Yusei Kikuchi that turned the game around.