Yankees slugger Juan Soto hits pinch-hit RBI double after being scratched from the lineup

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Juan Soto walked up to manager Aaron Boone in the middle of the game and told him the banged-up left knee that kept him out of the lineup was feeling good enough for the slugger to give the New York Yankees one at-bat if a key moment came.

It did in the 10th inning and Soto delivered with an RBI double that helped the Yankees beat the Oakland Athletics 4-2 on Friday night.

“It was great — showman-like,” starter Gerrit Cole said. “He loves the moment. He loves it.”

Soto had been scratched from the starting lineup after his knee was sore and swollen a day after he hurt it sliding into a concrete wall to make a catch in Seattle.

After getting X-rays early Friday that showed he didn't have a serious injury, Soto got treatment and spent time before the game in the batting cage and doing squats to make sure his knee was good enough to play.

“It reacted pretty well,” he said. “So 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 would have a good chance to be an option.”

His time came in the 10th inning. Boone didn't want to use Soto to start the inning with the automatic runner on second, figuring the A's would just walk him in that situation.

But after Anthony Rizzo led off the inning with a single to put runners on the corners, Boone didn't hesitate.

“Once we got the first and third, I was going to take my shot right there,” he said.

A passed ball by Shea Langeliers let the go-ahead run score and Soto delivered an opposite-field drive for an RBI double that gave the Yankees a 3-1 lead.

It provided a happy ending to a day that started with some concern that wasn't alleviated until the X-ray cleared Soto.

“It’s always scary,” Soto said. “It’s always part of it. Definitely we hoped for the best. But anything can happen. When I saw that it came back negative, it was really a relief.”

Soto hurt his leg on Thursday in Seattle when he slid into the short wall in foul territory down the right-field line while making a highlight reel catch. He remained in the game but had swelling on Friday.

Boone said before the game that he wasn't “overly concerned” the injury will linger into the postseason. The Yankees clinched a playoff berth on Wednesday night and lead Baltimore by four games in the AL East with eight games to play.

Soto said he didn't want to sit out with the division still on the line. He said he might be able to be in the lineup Saturday if his knee is feeling good in the morning.

Soto is blatting .288 with 40 homers and 104 RBIs in his first season with the Yankees. Soto is second in the majors with 125 walks, 285 times on base and a .419 on-base percentage, trailing only teammate Aaron Judge in all three categories. Soto is third in the majors with 120 runs scored.

Soto missed three games in June with left forearm inflammation.

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New York Yankees' Juan Soto walks back to the dugout after striking out against the Seattle Mariners during the first inning of a baseball game Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

New York Yankees right fielder Juan Soto makes a diving catch on a foul ball by Seattle Mariners' Jorge Polanco but collides with the wall during the seventh inning of a baseball game Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

New York Yankees right fielder Juan Soto, center, is checked on by center fielder Aaron Judge (99) and second baseman Gleyber Torres (25) after colliding with the wall after making a catch on a foul ball from Seattle Mariners' Jorge Polanco during the seventh inning of a baseball game Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

STOCKHOLM (AP) — The Nobel memorial prize in economics was awarded Monday to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson for research into reasons why some countries succeed and others fail.

The Nobel memorial prize in economics was awarded Monday to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson for research into differences in prosperity between nations.

The three economists “have demonstrated the importance of societal institutions for a country’s prosperity,” the Nobel committee of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said at the announcement in Stockholm.

“Societies with a poor rule of law and institutions that exploit the population do not generate growth or change for the better. The laureates’ research helps us understand why,” it added.

Acemoglu and Johnson work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Robinson conducts his research at the University of Chicago.

“Reducing the vast differences in income between countries is one of our time’s greatest challenges. The laureates have demonstrated the importance of societal institutions for achieving this,” Jakob Svensson, Chair of the Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences, said.

He said their research has provided "a much deeper understanding of the root causes of why countries fail or succeed.”

Reached by the academy in Athens, Greece, where he is due to speak at a conference, Acemoglu said he was surprised and shocked by the award.

“You never expect something like this," he said.

The economics prize is formally known as the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. The central bank established it in 1968 as a memorial to Nobel, the 19th-century Swedish businessman and chemist who invented dynamite and established the five Nobel Prizes.

Though Nobel purists stress that the economics prize is technically not a Nobel Prize, it is always presented together with the others on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death in 1896.

Nobel honors were announced last week in medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and peace.

Corder reported from The Hague, Netherlands.

The Nobel memorial prize in economics awarded to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A Robinson, seen on screen, during a press meeting at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden, Monday Oct. 14, 2024. (Christine Olsson/TT News Agency via AP)

Academy of Sciences permanent secretary Hans Ellegren, center, Jakob Svensson, left, and Jan Teorell, of the Nobel assembly announce the Nobel memorial prize in economics winners, Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A Robinson, seen on screen, during a press meeting at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden, Monday Oct. 14, 2024. (Christine Olsson/TT News Agency via AP)

FILE - A close-up view of a Nobel Prize medal at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Md., Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

The Nobel economics prize is being announced in Sweden

The Nobel economics prize is being announced in Sweden

FILE - A bust of Alfred Nobel on display following a press conference at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, on Monday, Oct. 3, 2022. (Henrik Montgomery/TT News Agency via AP, File)