Yankees 6, Twins 1: German Hands Twins Loss in Suspicious Fashion

[Hans Birkeland]

The Twins winning streak came to an end on Saturday in New York. So did the Twins streak of starters completing five innings. And, there was plenty of controversy, and a Baldelli ejection to boot. 

Image courtesy of Wendell Cruz, USA Today

Box Score
SP: Tyler Mahle: 4.1 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 90 pitches, 53 strikes (58.9%)
Home Runs: None
Top 3 WPA: Carlos Correa (-0.70), Eduoard Julien (-0.68) Jorge Alcalá  (-0.37)

Win Probability Chart (via Fangraphs):

Can the Twins run of quality starting pitching continue?
Tyler Mahle took the mound for the Twins and his stuff was good throughout his start, generating numerous swings and misses on his split changeup and fourteen whiffs total. His control was a little off however, missing with his fastball in the zone. His error in the second, misplaying a dribbler that allowed Franchy Cordero to reach, put a runner on base for Kyle Higashioka who pulverized an elevated fastball to put the Twins behind two zero. He continued to fall behind hitters and give up hard contact and after giving up a blistered double to Aaron Judge, it became apparent he would be the first Twins starter to fall short of completing five innings this year. It was a good run.

Domingo German dominant, but suspicious
Thought to represent the soft underbelly of the Yankees pitching staff along with Clarke Schmidt, German instead was sharp with his command, throwing riding fastballs up in the zone and pairing it with a sharp slider and changeup. He was perfect the first time through the order, striking out six. 

This aroused at least some suspicion from the umpires, who conferred before the start of the fourth regarding some sticky stuff on German's glove. German was allowed to stay after removing a substance, prompting Rocco Baldelli to protest and eventually be ejected from the game. Umpire James Hoye could be seen telling German, who previously was suspended for violating the league's domestic abuse policy, "I told you to wipe it off!" 

The league was supposed to be cracking down harder on the foreign substance issue this year, following the crackdown mid-2021 and then a gradual relaxation following. Hoye’s exclamation would seem to indicate that German was told to remove a substance but did not comply. 

His spin rate decreased significantly afterward. Conspiratorial baseball fans will note the Yankees being implicated for sign stealing during the Astros investigation, as well as sample balls from Yankees games being shown to have more bounce to them during the 2022 season, as compared to sample balls from other games.

Boom or bust offense continues 
Twins hitters swung over German’s changeup and underneath his fastball all day. The hitters that chose to be aggressive were rolling over pitches and grounding out quickly, while the hitters that tried to work the count fell behind and let German dictate the at-bat. Whether that was due to some unlawful pitching aid or not, the Twins hitters were not in command of the game. Trevor Larnach and Jose Miranda doubled in the seventh for the Twins’ first run, but Max Kepler grounded into an inning-ending double-play to end the threat.

Morán shows improvement
Taking over for Mahle in the fifth, Jovani Morán inherited runners on the corners and only one out. He induced a groundout to Cabrera, which Jose Miranda made a nice play on, nailing LeMahieu trying to score. Morán then got Cordero to tap out to end the threat. He then had a one two three sixth inning, although his control was wobbly, getting a few charitable strike three calls from the home plate umpire.

Jorge Alcalá was a different story, however, following Morán for the seventh and hitting LeMahieu, walking Judge and allowing a sharp double on a middle-middle slider to Giancarlo Stanton which plated two more runs. He did settle down in his next inning outside of an Anthony Volpe single (and two stolen bases).

What’s Next: 
Pablo Lopez (1-0, 1.35 ERA) will look to continue his run of dominance, going up against Gerrit Cole (3-0, 1.40 ERA) in the series finale. Cole was very effective against the Twins last September, but they did pop five home runs against him at Target field last June.

Postgame Interviews

Bullpen Usage Chart

	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	SAT	TOT
Alcalá	0	15	0	0	44	59
Durán	24	15	0	10	0	49
López	0	12	0	15	0	27
Morán	0	0	0	0	26	26
Sands	0	0	23	0	0	23
Jax	8	12	0	0	0	20
Pagán	0	0	0	12	0	12
Thielbar	4	0	0	0	0	4

 

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[GKuehl]

Infuriating game all the way around. How German was allowed to remain in the game is just baffling (except for the fact that he plays for the Yankees so of course he was given a free pass). If a player on any other team is caught pitching with a foreign substance that is suspicious enough to merit a 5 minute discussion, they’d be tossed and MLB would investigate further. 

Not the best day at the yard for Twins pitchers — none of the 3 (Mahle, Morán, and Alcalá) looked sharp. Hopefully we can win the series tomorrow! 

P.S. Kepler feels like a bench player if everyone is healthy. I can’t see him starting over Larnach, Gallo, or Kirilloff in the corners on an everyday basis. 

[jkcarew]

Momma told me there’d be days like today.

[glunn]

I hope that tomorrow the Twins blow these cheaters away.

[Chachi]

You never know, but sometimes you do.  Let’s see how they sweep this under the rug.

[ashbury]

I hope the Twins' hands are completely clean (no pun intended, but I'll own it) before making accusations of others, even if justified.

/ Edit - I posted the above before realizing there were provided three separate videos of people who had been on the field, discussing the matter afterward.   Rocco checked all the boxes for me with his remarkably disciplined remarks.  In particular there were no accusations, and that's fine.

[chinmusic]

19 minutes ago, glunn said:

I hope that tomorrow the Twins blow these cheaters away.

At the very least, German's antics might make Cole less likely to "violate" tomorrow.

[chpettit19]

22 minutes ago, ashbury said:

I hope the Twins' hands are completely clean (no pun intended, but I'll own it) before making accusations of others, even if justified.

I don't believe the Twins have made accusations of others. The umps were the ones who had a problem with whatever was on his hands, and Rocco just didn't agree with him being allowed to continue since he hadn't complied with the demand to clean his hands from the ump. From the interviews I've seen, nobody with the Twins has accused German of anything.

[ashbury]

1 minute ago, chpettit19 said:

I don't believe the Twins have made accusations of others. The umps were the ones who had a problem with whatever was on his hands, and Rocco just didn't agree with him being allowed to continue since he hadn't complied with the demand to clean his hands from the ump. From the interviews I've seen, nobody with the Twins has accused German of anything.

While you were typing up your fully justified response, I was amending my post to say much the same.  Better?

[chpettit19]

1 minute ago, ashbury said:

While you were typing up your fully justified response, I was amending my post to say much the same.  Better?

Why didn't you do that in the first place and save my fingers all that typing work?! 🤣

[ashbury]

10 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

Why didn't you do that in the first place and save my fingers all that typing work?! 🤣

If Journalism is the first draft of history, then the comments section at a website might be at best the first draft of journalism.  And then what you replied to was my poor first draft of that.  😀

[wsnydes]

17 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

Why didn't you do that in the first place and save my fingers all that typing work?! 🤣

Just chalk it up to some extra cardio for the day!

[Rod Carews Birthday]

Nothing to see here. . . .

https://www.mlb.com/news/domingo-german-stymies-twins-on-jackie-robinson-day

Seems a little whitewashed to me.  Check the first two paragraphs.   Yikes.

At least it's better than the first draft of the story, which had Anthony Rizzo hitting the wrong number of home runs.  The coverage truly does infuriate me sometimes.  Twins won last night, article talked about how the Yankees couldn't hold a lead.  Sheesh!

[chpettit19]

10 minutes ago, Rod Carews Birthday said:

Nothing to see here. . . .

https://www.mlb.com/news/domingo-german-stymies-twins-on-jackie-robinson-day

Seems a little whitewashed to me.  Check the first two paragraphs.   Yikes.

At least it's better than the first draft of the story, which had Anthony Rizzo hitting the wrong number of home runs.  The coverage truly does infuriate me sometimes.  Twins won last night, article talked about how the Yankees couldn't hold a lead.  Sheesh!

That's the Yankees beat writer. Not surprising he'd cover things this way.

[Rod Carews Birthday]

5 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

That's the Yankees beat writer. Not surprising he'd cover things this way.

True, but it's what comes up first on the MLB website so the illusion of the official line is still there. 

I recognize that NY is where the money is and the coasts are where the eyeballs/eardrums/$$$ are, but the blindness to the rest of the teams in the middle part of the country gets out of hand sometimes. 

OK, I'm done shouting at the clouds.  Thanks for letting me vent!

[chpettit19]

2 minutes ago, Rod Carews Birthday said:

True, but it's what comes up first on the MLB website so the illusion of the official line is still there. 

I recognize that NY is where the money is and the coasts are where the eyeballs/eardrums/$$$ are, but the blindness to the rest of the teams in the middle part of the country gets out of hand sometimes. 

OK, I'm done shouting at the clouds.  Thanks for letting me vent!

We're all here for you!

Do you have an MLB account? If you're signed in and have the Twins marked as your favorite team they'll put the most recent Twins story towards the top of the news section. Do hasn't written one yet for this game it appears.

[rwilfong86]

Even with the loss they're still guaranteed a split in the ballpark that has been their kryptonite. Let's win tomorrow and win the series and this will be forgotten.

[Doctor Gast]

2 hours ago, glunn said:

I hope that tomorrow the Twins blow these cheaters away.

They said they were going to crack down on the sticky stuff. It's a bunch of baloney. Baldelli was right to complain. Shame on MLB to allow this to continue. Cease was also suspected & was not checked. There's a lot of cheating going on by the untouchables. I guess we have rise up above them.

[h2oface]

I just want to know who had to pick up the gum Baldelli threw on his way out. I have never seen a gum throw as a parting shot until today.

(3:13 of the 3:25 highlight video titled Rocco Baldelli's ejection)

[RpR]

2 hours ago, GKuehl said:

 

P.S. Kepler feels like a bench player if everyone is healthy. I can’t see him starting over Larnach, Gallo, or Kirilloff in the corners on an everyday basis. 

His one K verses 4 for Buxton, so Buxton joins him on the bench?

[Castinofan]

Baldelli says he never pays attention when an umpire talks to the opposing pitcher.  Why not? Isn't that part of your job, or your assistants?  Also the seige by the Yankees literally surrounding the umpires while the crowd yelled was pure intimidation.  Rocco should have gone into that huddle and advocated then and there. 

[Eris]

Curious as to whether or not the Twins could have played the game under protest. It was no longer a judgment call as to if he had sticky stuff on his gloves. It was noticed by the umps who presumably deemed this incidental (this part is a judgment call) and asked him to remove it. He did not comply (perhaps this non-compliance is also considered an umpire judgment call). 
 

In any event, playing the game under protest would have forced the league to explain why the Yankee pitcher got special treatment, not once but twice.  Likely the protest would have been denied but it would have placed a greater spotlight on the issue. 

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Rocco handled this incident very well. No accusations, just a disagreement with the procedure. It is  a completely logical question to ask why German was allowed to pitch without wiping that sticky substance off, as the Ump told him to do a second time. When the ump said, "I told you to wipe that off",  since German was allowed to pitch without complying with the ump, then that is wrong. Rocco was correct. The ump goofed. He was surrounded by Yankee players and Aaron Boone, in New York. I feel the ump should have told the Yankees to get away from him and his crew as they discussed the matter.  I feel he was intimidated by the Yankees surrounding him and his crew as they discussed the matter. 

[DocBauer]

While I missed out on the game completely due to work, I still have a few comments.

1] I applaud Rocco for standing up for what he feels is right. And I've watched all the videos. And I'm not going to state that anyone was cheating in any way, despite the videos, and the stat charts provided in the OP. Let's just say those charts are "interesting". Rocco's post game comments were honest and succinct.  I applaud him for being diplomatic and yet succinct. It WOULD APPEAR, from the umpire videos and further comments made, that things weren't exactly handled correctly. And I'll leave it at that.

2] I could care less that ANY glove has a spot on it. Rosin, spit, or sweat, gloves will have marks. But fingers from a pitcher that the umps asked to be cleaned should be a no brainer to do. There is a Guardians pitcher, and I forget who at the moment, who has long hair and it's been "reported" previously that he would use a swipe through his hair and using the rosen bag that he would gain better control, getting better "tackiness". And this goes back to last season. And NO, I don't have links regarding this. It's just memory. But IIRC, the Twins or someone challenged him at some point. Don't recall if anything happened.

3] Regardless of ANYTHING ELSE, the Twins went to NY and WON the 1st 2 games. That's not always easy to do. And while I want the Twins to win EVERY GAME they play, that's obviously not going to happen. How many of us expected at least a split in this 4 game series? No matter what happens Sunday, this team is looking legit. HOPEFULLY,  Lopez and the offense leaves NY fans crying. But even if that doesn't happen, our Twins are looking damn good. The offense gets rolling, we could be dangerous.

[mikelink45]

Quote

his stuff was good throughout his start

You have to be kidding.  In the same paragraph you tell us he is missing the zone.  And he was falling behind and giving up hard contact.  That is not my definition of good and I hope that is not the team's either.  We lost, that will happen, but I am not excited about excuses nor do I want to pretend a batter or pitcher was better than the final results. 

[Riverbrian]

My wife is always telling me to wash my hands. 

I wash them.

She asks if I used soap. 

I smell them... I say... "They're fine". 

She says "Let me see". 

I hold my hands out and she lets me continue my day. 

Today at Yankee stadium was a normal day to me. 

Never had anybody tossed out over it. So that's new I guess. 

 

[Riverbrian]

I did catch the clever pun in the title "German HANDS Twins loss in suspicious fashion" 

That title would have been a lot scarier in the early 40's. 

Also noticed that it was written by a fella by the name of "Hans". 

Probably went out for Handburgers after he wrote it. 

 

 

[stringer bell]

11 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

I did catch the clever pun in the title "German HANDS Twins loss in suspicious fashion" 

That title would have been a lot scarier in the early 40's. 

Also noticed that it was written by a fella by the name of "Hans". 

Probably went out for Handburgers after he wrote it. 

 

 

Funny man. 

[stringer bell]

It’s a lot more fun to review a come-from-behind win than a frustrating loss. Not much to be optimistic about from today’s game, but that happens. Go get ‘em tomorrow with López on the hill. 

[Dman]

Maybe German cheated maybe he didn't it is hard to say.  I do tend to agree with Rocco though.  The ump felt there was some stickiness that shouldn't be there and it remained.  I think it was fair for Rocco to question the process.  One good thing that should come out of this is MLB and the umpires will be looking very closely at Yankee pitchers from here on out.  They won't get away with something like this again.