Domingo German to start second game of double-header with Astros
HOUSTON — Domingo German will be thrown right into the fire to start his MLB season. The right-hander who missed the first 92 games of the season with “right shoulder impingement syndrome,” was scheduled to start the second game of a split doubleheader against the Astros.
“We just ended up wanting to give (Jameson) Taillon an extra day,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of the decision to start German. “With the 27th man (for the doubleheader), we’re able to do that with JP Sears. So it gives us that extra arm and with Domingo’s not all the way necessarily built up. So there is a potential piggyback situation there in game two, but also, we can activate Domingo in that second game. So I think the 27th man kind of gave that flexibility coupled with just wanting to give Ja-MO an extra day too.”
Taillon had hit a bit of a slump before the All-Star Break. The right-hander, who is 10-2 with a 3.86 ERA overall, allowed 21 earned runs in his last 27 innings pitched.
German is something of a hybrid and could be key in the second half for the Yankees.
He was a reliable starter in 2019 before he was suspended under the joint MLB/MLBPA domestic violence policy. German went 18-4 that season with a 4.03 ERA in 27 appearances, including 24 starts. Last year, he made 22 appearances and 18 starts before being shut down with shoulder issues. In his career he is 22-14 with a 4.71 ERA as a starter and 2-2 with a 3.42 ERA as a reliever.
He will be key to helping the Yankees survive Luis Severino’s time on the injured list with a strained lat muscle. German could also be key to managing Nestor Cortes’ workload down the stretch.
The Yankees opened the second half of the season, the post All-Star Break half, on Thursday at MinuteMaid Park with the doubleheader because it was one of the series that had to be rescheduled when the season started late due to the owners’ lockout.
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