HOUSTON — The Yankees acquired Juan Soto predominantly for his bat and his eye.
But it was his arm that saved them in his Yankees debut.
Soto threw out a runner at the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning to help preserve a 5-4 comeback win over the Astros in Thursday’s Opening Day thriller at Minute Maid Park.
“That was a Yankee classic right there,” Aaron Judge said of Soto’s debut.
The Yankees also took a page out of Soto’s book by putting together tough, patient at-bats all game to shrug off an early 4-0 deficit and start their season off on the right foot.
But they needed Soto’s arm to make sure their first win got across the finish line.
The right fielder is not known for his defense, but he made it a focal point this spring and it paid immediate dividends.
The Astros had runners on first and second with one out in the bottom of the ninth against Clay Holmes when Kyle Tucker roped a single to right field.
Soto fielded it cleanly with momentum and came up firing a one-hop strike to the plate, where Jose Trevino slapped the tag on Mauricio Dubon.
“My mindset was just try to make a great throw to the plate and let Trevy do whatever he wants to do,” Soto said.
The Astros challenged the call, but it stood after replay review.
“Just a perfect throw, great play by Trevy,” manager Aaron Boone said. “[Soto] did it on both sides of the ball today. Huge play.”
Two pitches later, the Yankees were 1-0.
It was the highlight of an impressive Yankees debut for Soto, who went 1-for-3 with a pair of walks and an RBI.
His first walk was an eight-pitch plate appearance, putting together the kind of at-bat the Yankees want their whole lineup to have — and did for most of Thursday’s opener.
Just over an inning and a half into the season, Nestor Cortes had spotted the Astros a 4-0 lead with the Yankees’ injured ace, Gerrit Cole, watching from the dugout.
Their new-look offense was generating traffic early but gave fans flashbacks to the old offense by grounding into three inning-ending double plays through the first four frames.
At that point, outside the Yankees’ dugout, the world was seemingly nearing an end as the stench of an 82-80 season still lingered.
But with the chance to start fresh that Opening Day offers, the Yankees dug themselves out of the hole and fought back.
They continued to put together tough at-bats against Astros left-hander Framber Valdez and finally cracked the dam in the fifth inning.
With the bases loaded and no outs, Soto’s RBI single got them on the board.
Two outs later, Anthony Rizzo was hit by a pitch on the forearm to force in another run and end Valdez’s outing. Then Anthony Volpe, who reached base in four of his five plate appearances, drew another walk to make it 4-3.
“It’s really cool to see those guys grinding every at-bat, every swing,” Soto said.
Oswaldo Cabrera, getting the start at third base in place of the injured DJ LeMahieu, tied the game with a solo home run in the sixth inning.
Then in the seventh, Alex Verdugo, acquired from the Red Sox in December as the prelude to Soto, put the Yankees ahead with a sacrifice fly.
“This group from the beginning, we talked about how it’s going to take everybody,” said Judge, who doubled to lead off the seventh inning and scored the winning run. “There was no panic or fear in this clubhouse or in that dugout. When we went down 3-0, 4-0, the guys just stayed locked in on their approach and what they had to do.”
Cortes settled in after his rocky start, after being a hitter or two away from not making it out of the first inning, and retired 12 of the final 13 batters he faced to get through the fifth.
His offense, and relievers Jonathan Loaisiga, Ian Hamilton and Holmes (with an assist from Soto) took care of the rest.
“That’s a really good win,” Boone said. “The compete — that’s the kind of offense we want to be. … Those were heavy, laden at-bats. Wore down Framber a little bit, made him work really hard, got him out of there. We were able to put enough on the board and then the [bullpen] took it from there.”
Christine Lake is a sports fanatic who lives and breathes athletics. With an extensive background in sports journalism, he covers everything from major league championships to grassroots sports events. When she’s not on the field or at the stadium, you’ll find Christine coaching youth sports teams.
