Domingo German delivers dominant performance when Yankees needed it most
With Aaron Judge out of the lineup, Domingo German delivered the Yankees the exact type of effort they needed on Sunday night. The right-hander put together perhaps his best start of the season in the 4-1 win over the Dodgers.
German was on cruise control from the get-go, matching LA rookie right-hander Bobby Miller with zeroes across the board. All he allowed over the first four innings was a two out double to David Peralta in the second, but he quickly eliminated the threat.
German did have a bit of a scare in the bottom of the fifth, as he seemed to have roll his ankle a bit on a pitch. After coming up a little gingerly, Aaron Boone came out with trainers to look at him but the right-hander remained in the game.
Boone said postgame that German was fine.
“He just caught his spike in the hole a little bit and it rolled a little bit. He tapes his ankle and that kind of kept him stable so he was fine,” the skipper said. “We just wanted to make sure of it because I saw him react kind of funny.”
The slight hiccup was no bother for German, who continued cruising right along.
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LA was able to get a man in scoring position in the sixth, on a James Outman walk and stolen base, but German impressively struck out Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman on curveballs to get out of it.
The righty said postgame that the plan going in was to lean on his off-speed pitches as much as possible.
“That was part of the attack plan. Make sure I had good command of the curve and the changeup especially facing their righties and left-handers,” he said through a translator. “It was priority to get strike one and expand whenever I needed to. Tonight, we were able to do that.”
After the Yanks gave him a lead, German retired the first two batters he faced in the seventh. He then had J.D. Martinez in an 0-2 hole, but he hung his first breaking ball of the night, and the slugger deposited it into the seats to tie the game.
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German, who was very satisfied with the results, finished the night allowing just that run on four hits while walking just one and striking out six. He now has a 2.31 ERA and 26 strikeouts over his last six starts.
“We wanted to be aggressive and execute and command all the pitches against this lineup. I felt like during the game we were able to do that and stay locked in to the game,” he said.
The Yankees scratched across runs in the eighth and ninth, with the big blow coming on an Anthony Volpe two-run shot. The youngster, who finished the night 2-for-4, now has nine home runs on the season.
Boone was happy to see different guys steps up in Judge’s absence to help get the series win on the road.
“We’ve gotten contributions all over the place. Some winning things are happening,” the skipper said. “It’s a credit to them. I say it all the time you walk in this building with an edge, prepare your butt off, and go out and compete. And they are doing that at a really high level.”
Source: Yahoo Sports
