Yankees Juan Soto likely avoids major injury after Aaron Judge-like wall collision: A little scared

SEATTLE — After talking about their October dreams on Wednesday night, the Yankees faced a potential nightmare scenario on Thursday afternoon.Their postseason hopes flashed before their eyes as Juan Soto chased down a fly ball in right-field foul territory and slid into the wall to make a terrific catch, but stayed down on the ground in pain.He threw the ball back into the infield, then tossed his glove and tended to his left knee that he had slammed into the concrete below the padding.Aaron Boone, two trainers and a handful of concerned teammates jogged out to right field to check on Soto, who eventually got to his feet and remained in the game.For now, the Yankees and Soto appear to have avoided anything more serious than a bruise and some swelling in his knee, which is a win on a day they lost to the Mariners, 3-2, to miss out on a sweep at T-Mobile Park.“[I was] really worried,” Soto said after getting treatment for nearly an hour postgame.

“When I threw the ball in, it was a lot of pain in my kneecap.But with the time, it started going down, feeling better.

Definitely I was a little scared right there.”Soto was set to undergo precautionary X-rays to make sure he did not do any damage to his knee.He said how he wakes up on Friday in Oakland and how the swelling is will determine whether or not he is in the Yankees lineup against the A’s.“Your heart definitely skips a couple beats and I’m sure all the Yankees fans across the world were feeling the same,” said Clarke Schmidt, who allowed three runs (one earned) in five innings and was in the training room when the play happened.The loss, combined with the Orioles finally winning a game earlier on Thursday, trimmed the Yankees lead atop the AL East back to four games with nine games left to play.

Their magic number to clinch the division remained six.Less than three hours before first pitch Thursday, a large group of Yankees arrived in the visiting clubhouse that still had a stench of cheap ch...