“Awful day at the park for us.”
That was Yankee Manager Aaron Boone’s seven word, hit the nail on the head analysis of what went on last night at Yankee Stadium.
It was the Domingo German invitational and the Seattle Mariners teed off.
In one of the ugliest games of the season, German was pounded for 10 runs, 8 earned, on 8 hits in 3 1/3 innings pitched as the Yankees were run over by Seattle, 10-2. “You’re in the arena and you get punched in the mouth and it’s not fun to go through something like that, especially at home,” said Boone.
The Mariners, a team that was having trouble scoring runs, got to the Yankee right hander for four runs in the first and added two runs in each of the next three innings.
German threw 93 pitches, 60 for strikes but four were struck for home runs.
The Yankee right hander, who had been pitching well before his last outing in Boston, has now given up 15 runs and 5 home runs in a little over five innings pitched.
“When you put together a string of good outings, you’re also facing a professional team that’s doing their homework and they’re preparing to face you,” German said through an interpreter. “It goes back and forth, you just gotta take it one day at a time. Make sure that you keep working, find a solution and apply it.”
It didn’t take Seattle long to make it a long night for German.
With one out in the top of the first, Julio Rodriguez singled and Ty France was hit by a pitch. Teoscar Hernandez singled to center to drive in the first run. Cal Raleigh’s single loaded the bases and Eugenio Suarez lined a pitch down the left field line for a two run double. Former Yankee Mike Ford lifted a sac fly to right and the M’s had a 4-0 lead before the Yankees even came to bat.
Things did not get much better for German who gave up solo home runs to Kolten Wong and Ty France in the second and two more homers in the fourth to Hernandez and Raleigh, back to back to cap off his awful night.
The third inning was a clinic on how not to play defense as the Yankees committed three errors and allowed the Mariners to score two runs without the benefit of a hit.
With one out, German walked Suarez. Ford hit a slow roller towards third base that Josh Donaldson charged with an idea of getting the force at second but he bobbled the ball and both runners were safe.
The play wasn’t over yet and German did not cover, so Suarez took off for third. Donaldson picked up the loose ball and threw it past German, who ran over late to cover. Suarez scored on the misplay (the error was charged to German for failing to make the catch) and Ford was originally placed at second.
Seattle made a successful challenge that paid off when Ford was placed on third and it paid off as he scored on a sacrifice fly to make it an 8-0 lead in the third inning, but the inept play was not done yet.
With two out, Jarred Kelenic hit a slow grounder that hugged the first base line but Anthony Rizzo tried to back hand it and just whiffed on the ball for the third error of the inning. No more damage was done on the scoreboard, but it was an inning that was a telling sign of how this team is playing right now.
“Had a chance to sweep today, we didn’t come close to that at all,” said Rizzo. “Domingo’s out there, trying to get us some length there and we boot balls behind him.”
On the other end of the spectrum, Mariners rookie starting pitcher Bryan Woo was impressive.
The 23-year old did not allow a hit until Gleyber Torres blooped a single to right with one out in the sixth. Rizzo followed with a hard single off the top of the wall in right field to put runners on first and third and Woo’s night was done.
Woo showed a live fastball with really good command. He kept the Yankee lineup (with all due respect, not exactly “Murderers Row”) off balance and showed the stuff that has the Mariners excited about this young arm.
“He [Woo] was just staying off the heart of the plate, strike to ball stuff was kinda exploding out of his hand,” Rizzo said. “He had good stuff all around the zone, not much over the middle.”
The Yankees did not fare much better against the Mariners bullpen. Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who came in to pitch a scoreless ninth inning, hit a two run home run in the bottom of the ninth to break up the shutout bid. (IKF technically became the first Yankee pitcher to hit a home run since Lindy McDaniel in 1972, before the advent of the DH)
One bad outing can be shrugged off, but the Yankees have be a little concerned about what they’ve seen from German the past two outings. However, the right hander isn’t fazed. “It happens, you’re facing good competition. You just gotta find a way, find a way to get past it,” German said.
German began the game with a strikeout of Kelenic, but it was all downhill from there. “I thought stuff wise, it was coming out hot but then he started making mistakes with the breaking ball,” Boone said. “Up in the zone, hanging it, spinning out a little bit and not having the command, again, that we’re used to seeing with Domingo.”
With the Yankee offense continuing to go throught a mind numbing stretch of poor offensive production, coming back from 4-0 was going to be a tough chore.
D.J. LeMahieu returned to the lineup but was 0 for 4 with two strikeouts. Giancarlo Stanton was 0 for 3 (5 for his last 48) while Donaldson’s average continues to plummet after an 0 for 4 left him at .127.
LeMahieu has begun to publicly show his frustration when he threw his helmet into the dugout but Boone is not concerned that he’s letting his slump get into his head.
“These guys have a lot of pride,they’ve done it for a long time at a really high level and when you go through some struggles for an extended period, guys are pissed off, that’s part of it,” Boone said. “He’s as tough as they come mentally, physically, we just gotta get to work alongside him and try and unlock him.”
Rizzo seems to be coming around and was one of five Yankees to get a hit, but the veteran first-baseman feels for his teammates.
“Even the way he’s handlling himself while he’s not having the success, it’s just impressive,” Rizzo said about LeMahieu. “Anytime you go through a long stretch, no one likes to see it, no one from afar likes to see it, no one up close likes to see it. It’s on us to keep a positive mindset here, atmosphere to keep going, this is all part of the gig we signed up for.”