Mets' Juan Soto leaves game after fouling ball off right ankle

NEW YORK (AP) — New York Mets star Juan Soto was lifted for a pinch hitter in the seventh inning against the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday night, four innings after he fouled a pitch off the top of his right ankle.

Soto hopped toward the Mets dugout after fouling off Framber Valdez’s 2-0 pitch. He dropped to one knee as he was tended to by an athletic trainer and Mets manager Carlos Mendoza. Soto, the Mets' designated hitter, remained in the game and struck out, then grounded out in the sixth.

Soto's spot in the batting order came up with a runner on third base in the seventh after Bo Bichette’s tying single. MJ Melendez was at the plate as the pinch hitter when Carson Benge was thrown out at the plate by shortstop Zack Short on a delayed double steal as catcher Dillon Dingler applied the tag.

Soto, who missed 15 games last month with a strained right calf, was injured one night after teammate Francisco Alvarez tore the meniscus in his right knee while fouling off a pitch in the sixth inning of a 10-2 win. Alvarez will undergo surgery and is expected to miss at least six-to-eight weeks.

Soto went 0 for 3 and is 6 for 41 in May. He is hitting .263 with four homers and 11 RBIs.

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