The Yankees’ Juan Soto, right, celebrates as he reaches home plate after hitting a three-run home run during the seventh inning on Friday in New York.
Frank Franklin II | AP photo
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NEW YORK — Juan Soto hit a three-run homer halfway up the right field second deck to cap a five-run seventh inning and the New York Yankees rallied to beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-3 on Friday night.
Soto stood at home plate and admired his 409-foot drive off Chris Devenski (0-1), which gave the Yankees a 5-1 lead. Soto is hitting .347 with five homers and 20 RBIs in his first season with the Yankees.
Soto also made a leaping catch at the right field wall to rob Richie Palacios of a possible homer for the final out of the third.
Issac Paredes hit a two-run single in the eighth against Ian Hamilton, and Clay Holmes escaped trouble in the ninth for his eighth save in nine chances.
Former Yankee Ben Rortvedt and Yandy Díaz singled, and Randy Arrozarena hit a pop fly to shallow center that just eluded Aaron Judge, who threw to third for a forceout while the teams wondered whether an infield fly had been called — it was not.
Palacios then lined to shortstop Anthony Volpe, who threw to Gleyber Torres to double up Jose Siri for a game-ending double play.
Dennis Santana (1-0) pitched 1 2/3 innings for his first win with the Yankees, who were outhit 14-5.
Palacios, who grew up a Yankees fan and attended Berkeley Carroll School in Brooklyn, homered off Clarke Schmidt for a 1-0 lead in the second.
With one out in the seventh, Alex Verdugo hit a grounder that went under second baseman Curtis Mead’s glove. Jose Trevino walked, and Oswaldo Cabrera’s grounded skipped over Díaz’s glove at first as the tying run scored. Volpe singled for a 2-1 lead.
Tampa Bay starter Tyler Alexander allowed two hits in 5 1/3 scoreless innings. Schmidt gave up seven hits in 5 1/3 innings.
LEMAHIEU AILING
The Yankees delayed the start of DJ LeMahieu’s minor league injury rehabilitation assignment after an MRI showed the fracture in his right foot has not fully healed.
The 35-year-old, a two-time batting champion, has been sidelined since fouling a ball off the foot during a spring training game on March 16. He was to have started the rehab assignment Friday but remained in New York. The earliest he will report to a minor league team is Tuesday.
“He’s doing really well and I know he feels ready to go, but the foot specialist has weighed in,” manager Aaron Boone said before the Yankees’ series opener against Tampa Bay. “We want to make sure this thing’s 100%. He’s close to that now. We’re just being conservative with this thing.
LeMahieu continued fielding ground balls and taking batting practice.
“I feel ready to go,” LeMahieu said. “I’m ready to get out there and get in some games. It shouldn’t be too much longer.”
LeMahieu hut a career-low .243 last year with 15 homers and 44 RBIs in 136 games. He batted .220 in the first half last but .273 in the second half.
In 2022, he missed the postseason because a broken sesamoid bone in his right big toe that led to ligament damage in his second toe.
Also Friday, the Yankees placed reliever Nick Burdi on the 15-day injured list because of right hip inflammation, a move retroactive to Wednesday. The right-hander felt pain on the last pitch of his outing Tuesday in Toronto.
Burdi is 1-0 in seven scoreless appearances this season.
Right-hander Cody Morris was recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre, where he had a 1.93 ERA in four games. Morris had a 6.75 ERA in six relief appearances last year for Cleveland, which traded him to the Yankees for outfielder Estevan Florial.
Outfielder Taylor Trammell was added to the active roster, a day after he was claimed off waivers from the Los Angeles Dodgers.
STRIDER BACKS BRAVES
ATLANTA — Atlanta Braves ace Spencer Strider began to feel discomfort in his right elbow in spring training but didn’t realize the severity of the injury until learning he needed season-ending surgery.
Strider said he had a bone fragment develop following Tommy John surgery in 2019 that caused the ulnar collateral ligament to become unstable. Strider also said he did not have a tear that required a second Tommy John surgery and he instead had an internal brace procedure, perhaps giving him a better opportunity to recover for the start of the 2025 season.
Strider finally complained about the issue after pitching four innings in Atlanta’s 6-5 win over Arizona on April 5.
“You’re not going to feel good when you’re playing baseball every day,” Strider said Friday while standing in front of his locker in his first news conference since the surgery. “So I’m not searching for that. You know, like I said, I’m going to pitch through anything if I feel like I can help the team and I felt like I couldn’t do that anymore, so I thought it’s time to say something.”
An MRI the next day revealed damage to his UCL. Texas Rangers physician Dr. Keith Meister performed the procedure on April 13.
“They’re theorizing that I tore some connective tissue … and that’s what destabilized the ligament,” Strider said. “And maybe I blew through the last of that on that game and things deteriorated pretty quickly throughout the outing.”
Strider was Atlanta’s No. 1 starting pitcher after going 20-5 with 281 strikeouts in last year, when he led the major leagues in wins and strikeouts.
With his right arm immobilized in a sling, Strider said he will look for ways to support his teammates.
“These guys don’t don’t need me to to win a World Series,” he said. “So you know they’re going to pursue that journey. I’ll be here here to cheer them on.”