Germán undeterred by inspection in 11-K gem

NEW YORK -- Domingo Germán stood in foul territory, his palms presented skyward, and the umpires huddled. The Yankees right-hander had been halted after the top of the third inning, and now again before the top of the fourth, with apparent concern raised over foreign substances.

Germán was spinning a gem, and umpiring crew chief James Hoye noticed that the hurler’s right hand felt tacky. The conversation grew more animated as Germán pleaded his case, explaining the source was nothing more than rosin, the time-tested grip-enhancing agent that is legal for all pitchers to use.

Ultimately, the umps found no reason to interrupt Germán’s splendid Saturday afternoon any further. Germán struck out a career-high 11 batters over 6 1/3 frames, raising his glove above his head to acknowledge a standing ovation as he exited the Yanks’ 6-1 victory over the Twins at Yankee Stadium.

“The discussion was intense,” Germán said through an interpreter. “There was a moment there where maybe I felt that things were going to get out of hand. But I was able to explain and tell them, I have a rosin bag that’s in the area of the dugout where I sit all the time.

“He was able to talk that over, understand and reason. He listened to what I was saying, and they said, ‘OK, fine.’”

By the time Germán made his triumphant (and unimpeded) walk toward the dugout, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli was in the visiting clubhouse, having been ejected after Germán was permitted to continue pitching in the fourth inning.

Baldelli’s main gripe was that Germán had been instructed to lay off the rosin after the third inning, then re-appeared with tackiness still on his right pinky finger for the fourth. Baldelli said that he felt Germán “didn’t fully comply with the warning, from what I was told, and was still allowed to keep pitching. That's it. I don't agree with that in principle.”

Hoye explained that he, as well as umpire D.J. Reyburn, inspected Germán’s hand. They concluded, “This is not an ejectable offense because we didn’t feel it rose to foreign substance standard of affecting the flight, affecting his pitching.”

Said Yankees manager Aaron Boone: “It did not reach the level [of enforcement]. Any time a pitcher is out there, there’s always something you get a little bit from the rosin. Basically, it was, ‘Wash your hands.’ That’s all it is.”

The curious back-and-forth detracted somewhat from one of Germán’s finer efforts, representing a bounce-back performance after he issued five walks in a three-inning no-decision against the Guardians his previous time out.

“We wanted to adjust mechanically and use my lanes better,” Germán said. “We wanted to make sure if I’m landing and going inside, that I keep that direction so the pitches can be sharper. I think we did that today.”

Germán retired the first 16 Twins he faced before Christian Vázquez slapped a clean single to center field. Michael A. Taylor followed with a hit through the left side of the infield, but Germán settled after a visit from pitching coach Matt Blake -- retiring the next two batters.

“He looked really good, using all his pitches in good areas,” catcher Kyle Higashioka said. “His misses were good. I think he was just mixing his pitches, attacking the hitters, attacking the zone early. It was good.”

Trevor Larnach doubled on Germán’s 78th and final pitch in the seventh, scoring as José Miranda greeted reliever Michael King with a double. Despite Germán’s odd incident, the victory represented a return to normalcy for the Yankees, who have spent most of the past two decades notching victories over Minnesota (now 115-42 since 2002, including the postseason).

After losing the first two in this four-game series, one by blowout and one by blown lead, Higashioka and Anthony Rizzo homered to highlight a four-run peppering of Tyler Mahle. Giancarlo Stanton added a booming two-run double in the seventh, a drive that most in the ballpark thought was a home run -- including the sound engineer, who had to pump the brakes on a celebratory siren.

“I was very surprised,” said rookie Anthony Volpe, who went 1-for-2 with two walks, three steals and a run scored. “I’ve only played with [Stanton] for a couple of weeks, but Rizz said he’s never seen a ball that he’s hit like that not go out.”