Three weeks ago the umpiring crew for the April 26 Twins-Yankees game allowed Domingo German to stay in the game despite having to twice tell him to wash his hands after checking him for illegal sticky substances. He wasn’t so lucky Tuesday night in his start against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Yankees starter Domingo Germán has been ejected for having an illegal substance pic.twitter.com/hq9aIPo5DX
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) May 17, 2023
It was the middle of the fourth inning and German was walking onto the field – after pitching a perfect three innings to start the game – when the umpiring crew decided to check him for sticky substances.
They found some and decided to eject the Yankees right-hander. Close-up camera views on the television broadcast appeared to show residue from an unknown substance on German’s pants where he placed his fingers.
Aaron Boone: Alright guys, we almost got caught cheating last night but Aaron saved us with a great answer to the media. Let’s keep it low key tonight.
Domingo German: pic.twitter.com/ZKl031lYr5
— Ben Porter (@Ben13Porter) May 17, 2023
German will likely face a 10-game suspension for being ejected, which means he’ll miss a couple of turns through the Yankee rotation.
In German’s April 26 start against the Twins in Minneapolis, the umpires checked German after, ironically, three perfect innings, before he was set to pitch the fourth inning. One umpire appeared to tell German to “wash your hands” before he was checked for sticky substances again and allowed to keep pitching.
Twins manager Rocco Baldelli argued the decision to let him stay in the game and wound up getting ejected himself.
German set down 16 straight Twins to start that game and allowed just one run on three hits in 6.1 innings in a Yankees victory.
