“It’s been bothering him for the last week” - Aaron Boone sheds light on Juan Soto's surprising exit in Thursday's game due to left forearm tightness

Juan Soto was surprisingly absent when things resumed after a 56-minute halt due to rain in the Thursday game between the New York Yankees and the Minnesota Twins. Later, the team confirmed that Soto had been taken out due to left forearm tightness and won't return.

After the game, Yankees manager Aaron Boone discussed Soto's injury with the media, saying that it's something he had been carrying since the last week or so.

"Yeah, it's just been something that's been bothering him for about the last week or so," Boone told reporters.

"Been getting treatment on it. Hasn't really affected him in his baseball stuff, throwing or swinging or anything. But just, you know, once we shut down and the rain delay, that soreness was there. So just kind of didn't feel like it was the right thing to go back out there."

Juan Soto played left field for five innings and had three plate appearances, where he grinded out two walks and also scored once for the Yankees. Alex Verdugo played left field as a replacement, and Aaron Judge moved left to right to fill his spot in the outfield.

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Aaron Boone dismisses rumors of Juan Soto being injured while throwing from outfield

MLB: Minnesota Twins at New York Yankees

There wasn't any visible play where Juan Soto's injury could be attributed to, but two of his throws in the fifth were weak.

Two of his throws from the outfield in the fifth inning, from the right-field corner on Alex Kirilloff’s double and another on Carlos Santana’s RBI single, only had 75.3 mph and 58.4 mph velocity, respectively.

It was what many thought to be where Soto might have picked up injury, but Aaron Boone quashed them in his post-game presser.

"No, it's just been something that's been kind of bothering him," Boone said.

Boone also added that the team will do imaging on Friday and see what comes out of it.