Washington’s Juan Soto felt something tighten up behind his left knee and in his calf after making a throw in right field in the top of the third inning Sunday. He exited the game after running the bases and getting involved in a rundown in the bottom of the fourth. AP Photo/Nick Wass
WASHINGTON — Juan Soto said an MRI on his left calf showed no damage after he left the Washington Nationals game Sunday against the Miami Marlins because of tightness.
“Everything was fine,” Soto said Monday. “We gonna be good. They said it’s just a little tight, so just going to take a couple days and see how it goes.”
Soto did not play Monday, and he said he was going to take it day by day.
The 23-year-old star felt something tighten up behind his left knee and in his calf after making a throw in right field in the top of the third inning Sunday. He exited after running the bases and getting involved in a rundown in the bottom of the fourth.
“It didn’t feel that well, so I just take the decision to pull out of the game and make sure everything’s fine before I keep going and make it worse,” Soto said. “You don’t want to go out of the game that easy. I want to be out there, I want to give my 100%, so I wanted to try.”
Soto entered Sunday on an eight-game hitting streak. It makes sense for the Nats to be extra cautious with the face of the franchise, whom they are attempting to sign to a long-term contract.
Teammates were worried about Soto before he got the MRI, but he’s already showing some progress.
“Today I feel better, and I hope I feel better tomorrow, too, and we take it from there,” Soto said. “I’m just going to see how good it is.”
Washington opens a three-game series at NL East-rival Philadelphia on Tuesday. Right-hander Jackson Tetreault won’t pitch against the Phillies after going on the 15-day injured list with a stress fracture in the scapula in his right shoulder.
Tetreault was dealing with some discomfort, then couldn’t lift that arm very high after starting Saturday and figured it was time to say something. His MRI showed far worse news than Soto’s.
“I would much rather get this fixed than continue to pitch with it and maybe not do well and end up hurting the team,” he said. “As much as I want to be out there, this is for the best.”
MONDAY’S GAME
MARLINS 3, NATIONALS 2: Bryan De La Cruz hit a two-run homer off the foul pole in the 10th inning to keep Miami’s domination of the Nationals going with a win in Washington.
The Marlins won the rare 11:05 a.m. start by beating the Nationals for the 12th time in 13 games this year, including seven in a row. They extended their winning streak to five and moved two games back of .500 at nearly the halfway point.
De La Cruz became the latest Miami player to come up with a big hit during this run, after Jesús Sánchez hit a go-ahead two-run home run in the ninth Sunday and Jesús Aguilar homered and doubled Saturday. His fifth homer this season came off Tanner Rainey (1-3), who also gave up Sánchez’s shot to right less than 24 hours earlier.
It’s the first time De La Cruz had homered in the ninth inning or later in his major league career.
TIGERS SWEEP GUARDIANS: Jonathan Schoop had two singles to close out a six-hit night, Eric Haase had his sixth home run and Tyler Alexander pitched three-plus scoreless innings of relief to lead Detroit to a 5-3 win in the second game for a sweep of the day-night doubleheader against Cleveland in Detroit.
Schoop, who entered the day hitting .191, had four singles in four at-bats and scored two runs in a 4-1 Tigers win in the opener. He made it six straight with a leadoff double in the third inning of the second game scored a run and added an RBI single in the fourth.
He scored from third on a fielder’s choice RBI by Riley Greene for a 1-0 lead in the night game. In the fourth, Jose Rimerez’s RBI double, Andres’ Gimenez’s sacrifice fly and Owen Miller’s RBI single gave the Guardians a 3-1 lead.
ORIOLES 7, RANGERS 6: Jorge Mateo limped to first base when Matt Moore hit him near the left knee with the bases loaded in the 10th inning, and Baltimore reached the season’s halfway point by coming from behind late to beat Texas in Baltimore.
Rookie Adley Rutschman, who began the day in an 0-for-18 skid, tied the score against Joe Barlow with a two-out RBI double in the ninth that hit off the right-field wall.
Rougned Odor led off the 10th with a bunt single off Moore (3-1) that advanced automatic runner Austin Hays to third, and Moore intentionally walked Ramón Urías to load the bases. Moore (3-1) then hit Mateo with his next pitch, a 93.5 mph fastball.
Mateo bent over in pain for about six seconds. After crossing the plate, Hays accompanied a hobbling Mateo to first along with Cedric Mullins, who was on deck, and Odor.
ASTROS 7, ROYALS 6: Yordan Alvarez homered with two outs in the ninth inning, and Houston won at home for its seventh straight win.
Led by Kyle Tucker and Alvarez, AL West-leading Houston erased a five-run deficit on the way to its 15th victory in its last 18 games. Tucker sparked the Astros’ three-run eighth with a two-run single, and Alvarez hit a drive to left-center against Scott Barlow (2-2) for his 24th homer.
Ryne Stanek (1-0) pitched a scoreless ninth for the win.
The Astros also won in their last at-bat on Sunday, using Jeremy Peña’s tiebreaking two-run homer with two out in the ninth to post a 4-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angels.
BREWERS 5, CUBS 2: Victor Caratini hit a three-run homer with two outs in the 10th inning and Milwaukee walked off with a win over Chicago.
Caratini’s big hit followed an eventful ninth inning that featured an inside-the-park homer from Chicago’s Seiya Suzuki and a two-out, bases-loaded walk by Milwaukee’s Christian Yelich.
After striking out in each of his four previous at bats, Caratini hit a 2-1 sinker from Scott Effross (1-4) over the center-field wall.
DIAMONDBACKS 8, GIANTS 3: Madison Bumgarner posted a win against his former team and Arizona beat San Francisco in Phoenix, handing the Giants their fifth straight loss.
Buddy Kennedy drove in a pair of runs and Cooper Hummel scored twice for Arizona. The Giants have lost 11 of 14.
Last season, the Giants went 17-2 against Arizona in winning the NL West title. But in the first of their 19 meetings this year, Bumgarner (4-8) and the D-backs prevailed.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.