Alfonso Soriano sits out game with sore thumb

He's been the most powerful hitter in baseball since the Yankees acquired him on July 26 from the Cubs. But Alfonso Soriano couldn't swing a bat Saturday without feeling pain in his right thumb and was scratched from the lineup about 50 minutes before the game against the Red Sox.

Perhaps predictably, the Yankees were held to three hits by Jon Lester and Franklin Morales in a 5-1 loss. Their fingers -- and thumbs -- are crossed that Soriano is a quick healer and can get back for Sunday night's series finale.

"Today is the worst day that I feel it,'' Soriano said of the thumb, which he injured making a diving catch in leftfield on Thursday night in Baltimore. "I hope tomorrow, or tonight, it's getting better and I'll be available to play tomorrow.''

The Yankees have taken so many injury-related hits this season that it's remarkable that they're still fighting for a playoff spot. But losing Soriano -- who has an MLB-best 15 homers and 47 RBIs in 46 games since rejoining the Yankees -- feels like a hard shot to the chest, especially coming a day after the team learned it likely will be without Brett Gardner for the rest of the regular season because of an oblique strain.

"It changes things,'' manager Joe Girardi said. "But you have to find a way to get it done. That's the bottom line.''

Soriano, who played Friday night and went 1-for-4, said the thumb was swollen when he woke up Saturday. He thinks it might have been aggravated when he slid headfirst into second on a steal Friday. He tested it in the batting cage and informed the team he couldn't go at about 12:20 p.m.

"It's no good when you have to take him out of the lineup,'' Girardi said. "There's some concern that it could linger for a few days, but we'll see how he is tomorrow.''

Girardi shuffled his lineup, replacing Soriano with Ichiro Suzuki and making a series of batting-order shifts. It didn't help against Lester, who went eight innings. Ichiro went 0-for-3.

X-rays were negative and Soriano got treatment during the game. "I'm hoping the treatment I got today is helpful for tomorrow night's game,'' he said. "To me, it's very tough to watch the game. And we lost to make it worse. There's nothing you can do about the game today, so I hope tomorrow we've got a better chance to win and play better.''

One difficulty for Girardi is that he can't use both Soriano and Alex Rodriguez as the designated hitter. Rodriguez is playing with a tight hamstring and is not expected to be able to play third base Sunday night. The Yankees are off Monday.

"We've gotten kind of used to handling it and dealing with it,'' Girardi said. "Our guys have done a good job responding and they'll do it again.''

Without Gardner, Curtis Granderson batted leadoff for the second straight game. He tripled and doubled in four at-bats. The other Yankee hit was a fifth-inning single by Brendan Ryan.

"All we can say is you've got to keep fighting,'' said Robinson Cano, who went 0-for-4 with an RBI groundout after going 4- for-4 with three doubles Friday night. "We still have a chance and we just have to still fight.''