German Bombed Again. Like Dresden. Seattle 10 NY 2

June 23, 2023 paperbacklou 2023 0
Infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa pitches shutout 9th, including a strikeout. Then hits homer in bottom of 9th.

When Domingo German‘s curveball is curving, he is amongst the best pitchers in the American League, often throwing no hitters late into games.

But when his curveball isn’t curving, he gets Bombed.

On this night, for the second straight start, German’s curveball wasn’t curving. And it was like Dresden.

4 runs in the top of the 1st, 2 more in the 2nd, 2 more in the 3rd, and 2 more in the 4th — German left down 10-0 after consecutive solo homers sent him to the showers.

Meanwhile Seattle starter Bryan Woo had a no hitter going into the 6th inning before Gleyber Torres broke it up with a single.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa created a feel-good story in the 9th, pitching a shutout top of the 9th and hitting a 2-run homer in the bottom of the 9th to make the final score 10-2 and draw comparisons to Shohei Ohtani.

“Awful day at the park for us,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards. “Starting off, I thought his (German’s) breaking ball was good. Life to the fastball. Stuff wise it was coming out hot. And then he started making mistakes with his breaking ball. Up in the zone. Hanging it. Spinning out a little bit and not having the command we’re used to seeing with Domingo which is his calling card — the ability to throw all of his pitches where and when he wants to. And again just the curveball rolling up there. So we have to dig in and see where we can make minor adjustments.”

Despite the loss, the Yanks took 2 of 3 in the 3-game series. They fall to 41-34, still 9.5 behind Tampa and now 5 behind Baltimore, and .5 ahead of Toronto. Seattle goes to 36-37, 9.5 behind Texas.

1. German BOMBED

German didn’t have it from the 2nd batter on — his curveball wasn’t curving and his breaking ball wasn’t breaking. They were both hanging high in the zone and getting ripped.

  1. He struck out the 1st batter of the game but then single, hit by pitch, single, single, double and sac fly and it was 4-0.
  2. In the 2nd inning, Kolten Wong led off with a homer, and Ty France hit a solo homer with 2 outs — Seattle 6 NY 0.
  3. In the 3rd inning, a 1-out walk, then grounder to 3rd was bobbled by Josh Donaldson for an error — he threw to German who let the ball get by him for an error allowing the runner to score and sent Mike Ford the batter, to 3rd. The play was reviewed by the umps for 10 minutes before play resumed — and a sac fly made it Seattle 8 NY 0.
  4. In the 4th German got the 1st out but then a 437-foot BOMB to center by Teoscar Hernandez and a 349-foot homer to right by Cal Raleigh sent German to the showers at 93 pitches. Seattle 10 NY 0.

German said he felt great physically. “Sometimes it happens. It’s hard to figure out where the issue is; Is it mechanical? Is it the release point? Are they adjusting? Are they seeing the pitch well? — it is one of those things that is hard to figure out, at the same time you have to keep working; you gotta find what kind of solution you can apply and put it into work.”

2. Woo & Seattle Pen Shut Out NY

Meanwhile Bryan Woo, Seattle’s 6’2 right hander, had a no hitter going into the 6th, so it wasn’t a lively set of baseballs.

Woo walked a batter in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th but got everyone else out.

“That heater is real,” said Boone about Woo. “His sinker and four seam. He was tough tonite.”

Woo got the 1st out of the 6th before Gleyber Torres broke up the no hitter with a single to right. Anthony Rizzo followed with a single, sending Woo to the showers. But Giancarlo Stanton hit into a double play off reliever Ty Adcock to end the inning.

3. Ramirez & Abreu Good

Nick Ramirez relieved German in the 4th and pitched 2.2 shutout innings, striking out 5.

Albert Abreu pitched the 7th and 8th — 2 innings of shutout ball.

4. Falefa Show

Isiah Kiner-Falefa pitched a shutout 9th — allowing no hits and striking out a batter (Eugenio Suarez).

In the bottom of the 9th, Anthony Rizzo walked and Kiner-Falefa hit a 376-foot homer to left for a 10-2 final score — hitting the homer as a pitcher, and drawing the comparisons to Ohtani.

Chris Flexen struck out Kyle Higashioka for the old ballgame.

Etcetera

Anthony Volpe went 1-2 with a walk to raise his average to .196 (.273 OBP).

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401472145

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