Domingo German was scratched from his start at the last minute due to a pull in his armpit experienced the day before — and Jhony Brito started in his stead. But German felt better and was cleared by Dr Ahmad just before game time, and came in to pitch 5 shutout innings of relief.
Too late — as Brito got ripped for 5 runs on 4 homers in 4 innings, and meanwhile Tyler Glasnow stifled the Yanks with 7 innings of 3 hit ball.
On a Monday night at Yankee Stadium.
“You try to prepare to face the team that you have the task to face,” said Brito through the Yankee translator of his surprise start. “You try to do the best you can in studying hitters and putting together a plan of attack, and take that into the game. Unfortunately tonite I was trying to attack with my fastball, and my command was not sharp, and they were connecting very well.”
NY falls to 55-51, 10 games behind Baltimore, 8.5 behind Tampa, 3.5 behind Toronto, and 1 behind Boston.
1. Brito Bombed
Jhony Brito was the surprise starter and he looked surprised. He allowed a single to Diaz to start the ballgame, and an out later, Brandon Lowe hit a 96-MPH four-seam fastball for a homer to right center and a 2-0 Tampa lead.
It would be the first of 4 homers Brito gave up.
Wander Franco hit a 381-foot bomb to right in the 3rd to make it 3-1 Tampa.
In the 4th, Brito gave up back-to-back homers to Isaac Paredes and DH Josh Lowe, and it was 5-1 Tampa.
Brito was helped by his defense in the 3rd — DJ LeMahieu with a nifty play at 3rd.
Smooth defense from DJ 👏 pic.twitter.com/FIV4eLwt7M
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 31, 2023
2. Glasnow Stifles Yanks
Meanwhile Tyler Glasnow shut the Yankees down on 3 hits through 7 innings.
Glasnow is Tampa’s 29-year-old ace who went down with Tommy John surgery in 2021 and missed all of 2022 recovering. The 6’8 righty used lots of 91-MPH sliders, a 97-MPH fastball, and an 82-MPH curve to dominate NY.
Tyler Glasnow's 7th and 8th Ks. pic.twitter.com/lUrGS3NbcG
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 1, 2023
Glasnow wins to go 5-3 3.15 on the year.
3. Bauers HR the Only Yank Run
The only run NY got off Glasnow was a homer by Jake Bauers in the bottom of the 2nd which made it a 2-1 game at the time and gave the Yankees hope.
Bauers Boom. pic.twitter.com/Y972EOXe91
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 31, 2023
4. German Masterful in Relief
And so with so many Yankee fans bemoaning the fact that Jhony Brito was getting bombed and wondering what was wrong with Domingo German — there was Domingo German warming up in the pen in the 4th!
Rumors circulated that he had eaten the hot peppers for lunch.
German entered the game in the 5th and was on top of his game — using his easy motion delivery and precision curveball and off-speed stuff with spotted 95-MPH fastball to mow down the Tampa lineup like water (or grass).
Ground out, ground out, ground out was Tampa’s 5th inning; strikeout, ground out, walk, strikeout was the 6th; fly out, ground out, strike out in the 7th, etc.
Easy.
Too late.
Domingo Germán notches his 3rd K of the night in his 3rd inning of work out of the 'pen.
Watch LIVE: https://t.co/aRu5PF6iD2 pic.twitter.com/FUv3nFVAru
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) August 1, 2023
“When I arrived today, first thing I did was check in with the trainers, and that’s when they said I would not be making the start tonite, and later on I’d be seeing the doctor,” said German afterwards. “After that he said I could go out and play catch, and after that I felt really good. So I told him if you need me to pitch tonite out of the bullpen I can go.”
Boone said there was no thought of putting German back in as a starter after the decision was made to start Brito: “No, not at that point; you’re getting your starter ready.”
5. Judge Walked 3 More Times
Aaron Judge walked 3 times, which provided most of the Yankee offense besides Bauers’ homer. This was Judge’s 3rd game back from the 2-month stint on the IL for the broken toe — in the 1st game back he walked 3 times, in the 2nd game back he got 3 hits.
Judge is now slashing 20-42-.297 (.420 OBP) in 182 at bats.
The Yanks mounted a mini rally in the 3rd — an Anthony Volpe leadoff single and Judge 2-out walk put 1st and 2nd with 2 outs in a 3-1 game, but Anthony Rizzo struck out.
Down 5-1 in the 6th, Judge worked a 1-out walk and Anthony Rizzo singled to put 1st and 3rd, 1 out — but Giancarlo Stanton grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Judge led off the 9th with a walk off Tampa ace reliever Pete Fairbanks, but Fairbanks then struck out Rizzo and Stanton, and got DJ LeMahieu to line out to center for the old ballgame.
The Boxscore
https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401472616
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