Juan Soto a very late addition to Yankees' lineup vs. Blue Jays

TORONTO — Juan Soto talked his way into the Yankees’ lineup after all.

He was not in the original lineup posted late Sunday morning, but Soto — after taking some swings indoors to test his bruised right hand — was in rightfield and batting second in the series finale against the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.

The lineup that included Soto came out just minutes before first pitch.

“Basically, just got more treatment, felt pretty good as the morning unfolded,” manager Aaron Boone said after the Yankees split the four-game series with the Blue Jays with an 8-1 victory on Sunday. “I was sitting here, frankly, getting ready to go out [to the field], and Juan shows up in my office and is like, ‘Is it too late to get in there?’ I’m like, ‘No, I don’t think so.’

“I just wanted to make sure we were good with trainers and everyone. They said, ‘Yeah, he looked really [good] just hitting right now with no issues.’ We kind of scrambled and switched it up and he obviously played a big part in getting us going there.”

Soto rifled a single to rightfield in his first at-bat (106.3 mph exit velocity) and scored when Aaron Judge followed with his MLB-leading 31st homer of the season, a 423-foot blast to center.

“We went through a lot of exercises and treatments before the game,” said Soto, who went 1-for-3 with two walks. “Started hitting in the cage and it was feeling better and better.”

Soto, who suffered the bruise sliding into home plate in the fourth inning of Friday night’s 16-5 victory, did not paint a rosy picture when he spoke about the hand before Sunday’s game.

“It was a big pain in my hand. It really felt a little bit weak whenever I swung,” Soto said, describing what he felt while trying to swing on Saturday. “It was just a different feeling. I couldn’t even hold a bat. I kept swinging and I started changing my swing, so I stopped.”

Soto underwent an X-ray late Saturday afternoon that came back negative.

Soto said after Sunday’s game that he didn’t feel any discomfort in the hand at the plate but did at times while catching the ball in the outfield. He will be evaluated further on Monday, an off day for the Yankees, which may or may not include additional imaging.

“Still a little swelling, but I think it was in a spot where I could still help my team,” Soto said. “I was feeling good while I was warming up and I knew I had a pretty good chance out there to try to win a ballgame, so I went for it.”

Soto, who has a .303/.437/.568 slash line, 20 home runs, 12 doubles, three triples, 71 walks and 61 RBIs in 82 games, missed three games earlier in the season with left forearm inflammation. He played all 162 games last year with the Padres, and sitting is not something that comes naturally to the three-time All-Star.

“It’s really frustrating, because you want to be in the lineup every day to help the team to win ballgames,” Soto said before Sunday’s game at a point when he appeared to be a long shot to play. “For me, the most important thing is to be on the field no matter what. It’s tough, but it’s part of the game, too. That’s why people say it’s really hard to play 162 because you have to go through a lot of things throughout the year. It’s just a little frustrating.”

In this case, frustration lasted all of a day.