After the first game of the day-night doubleheader when he recorded his 41st save — this one of the four-out variety — Rafael Soriano insisted he could be used in Game 2 if necessary. The Yankees hoped they would not have to go that route.
But suffice to say the Yankees’ closer now has 42 saves.
“Just like pitching two days in a row,” Soriano said after a 1-2-3 ninth inning in the second game preserved a 2-1 Yankees victory over the Blue Jays Wednesday night.
Soriano saved both games of a doubleheader for the first time in his career. He said he saw absolutely no reason that he couldn’t do it after the first game, a 4-2 Yankees triumph. He told manager Joe Girardi, “Let me do my thing. I will let you know in the eighth.”
Even before Ichiro Suzuki delivered an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth, Soriano told the Yankees staff, “I felt fine.”
But can he pitch today after the two-save performance?
“Too early,” said Soriano, who threw 23 pitches in the first game and just nine in the second. “I will go through my same routine. I will play catch and let them know.”
Girardi needed to summon Soriano in the eighth inning of Game 1 and was very reluctant to do the same in Game 2, though his closer said he was ready.
“I called down there in the sixth inning and asked who we got and [heard] everyone was available,” Girardi said. “I hesitated to bring him in the eighth.”
It probably wouldn’t have mattered. Soriano has gone above and beyond all season.
“You lose the greatest closer of all time [Mariano Rivera] and you’re immediately in panic mode,” Game 2 starter David Phelps said. “But this is what our team has been doing all year. We’ve had guys step up every time we’ve needed it.”
Armed with the one-run lead, Soriano got a fly out, pop out and strike out to run his save count to 42.
“It’s huge,” catcher Chris Stewart said. “It’s not like he hasn’t closed games before. No one expected him to come in and get 40. You never would have thought that, but it shows how big he’s been and how many close games we’ve been in.”
fred.kerber@nypost.com