Domingo German started for the Yankees in the finale of this weekend series, and was, once again, effective in the injured Luis Severino's place in the rotation. He allowed only 1 hit over the 1st 5 innings, and looked sharp. Certainly, it was good enough to give the Yankee bats the chance to win.
Which they did. For the 2nd day in a row, the Bronx Bombers jumped out to an 8-0 lead. A single, 2 walks and an error produced 2 runs in the 1st inning. Two singles, a walk and an error produced 2 runs in the 2nd inning.
Cliche alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. A leadoff walk by Gary Sanchez and a Gleyber Torres home run produced 2 runs in the 3rd inning. And a Luke Voit single and, for the 2nd day in a row, a tremendous blast by Sanchez to left field scored 2 more runs in the top of the 6th.
But in the bottom of the 6th, German fell apart. He allowed 3 singles, a double, a walk and a wild pitch, resulting in 4 runs. Had the Yankee bats not given him a sufficient cushion, this would have been a very troubling inning. Fortunately, this case of onebadinningitis did not hurt much. Jonathan Holder pitched a perfect 7th, and Tommy Kahnle a scoreless 8th.
The Yankees put the game to rest in the 9th. Again, a leadoff walk hurt the Giants, drawn this time by Torres. This was followed by a wild pitch, and then by singles by Mike Tauchman, Cameron Maybin and Tyler Wade. Joe Harvey allowed a home run and a walk to start the 9th, but, unlike the day before, the Jints were not really in a position to make the game interesting. Harvey settled down, and got the next 3 batters out, to end it.
Yankees 11, Giants 5. WP: German (5-1). No save. LP: Dereck Rodriguez (3-3).
To paraphrase that great New Yorker Tony Bennett, the Yankees left their mark on San Francisco.
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So here's how things stand, 4 weeks into the 26-week Major League Baseball regular season: The Yankees are 17-11, a game and a half (2 in the loss column) behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Eastern Division. The Toronto Blue jays are 4 1/2 back, the Boston Red Sox 7 1/2, and the Baltimore Orioles 9.
Today is a travel day for the Yankees. Then it's 2 games in Phoenix against the Arizona Diamondbacks, before coming home to face the Minnesota Twins.