Masahiro Tanaka’s double hamstring whammy doesn’t necessarily impact the Yankees’ long game. With or without the right-hander in the rotation for the foreseeable future, general manager Brian Cashman is expected to pursue a top-gun arm to add to the rotation for the postseason.
But the task of dealing with the injury — which, according to manager Aaron Boone, will sideline Tanaka “for weeks” — is more complex than that, because defining the Yankees’ and Cashman’s long game as simply bulking up for the playoffs probably misses the point.
For despite going 33-9 since standing at 9-9 on April 20, the Yankees were only a half-game up on the Red Sox following Saturday’s 4-3 victory over the downtrodden Mets at Citi Field — in which home runs from Gleyber Torres, Miguel Andujar and Aaron Judge overcame a 3-0 first-inning deficit. Finishing in first place, and thus avoiding the nine-inning knockout round, is a paramount objective.
That first-inning hole was the product of a pair of homers from Todd Frazier and Asdrubal Cabrera sandwiched around a Brandon Nimmo triple off Domingo German, the righty who joined the rotation on May 6 in place of Jordan Montgomery — now down for the count following Tommy John surgery. Four batters and 17 pitches into the game, and the Yankees’ rotation issues seemed in need of immediate attention.
For it is one thing to be down one pitcher. It quite another to be down two in the rotation behind Luis Severino, Sonny Gray and CC Sabathia if the plan is to finish ahead of Boston with the best record in the AL. You almost wished someone had hacked into Cashman’s cell phone in order to determine if he had speed-dialed Mets counterpart Sandy Alderson to get things going on a trade for Jacob deGrom.
But the crisis passed. Of course it did. These are the Yankees, not the Mets. Pitching coach Larry Rothschild’s visit to the mound after Cabrera parked German’s 0-2 curveball acted as an intervention. German, who’d pitched to an 8.42 ERA in 21 innings over four starts leading into this one, didn’t allow another run while yielding just two more hits before departing for a pinch hitter in the top of the seventh.
“Larry told me to forget about it. That’s baseball,” German said. “[He said], ‘The second inning is the start of the game. Do your job.’ ”
And so he did, striking out nine without walking a batter in holding the Mets in check until his team’s big bats inevitably struck. His fastball command improved, German’s 96 pitches included 71 strikes.
“He didn’t buckle,” Boone said. “It’s a big series, a big deal and he scuffles but he doesn’t blink. He’s done that really well since he’s been here.
“I think he’s done a great job since he’s gone into the rotation of compartmentalizing. I know Larry is really proud of this effort. The wheels started to come off there, but he buckled down.”
The wheels turned ’round and ’round for the Yankees. While the Mets turned to seniors Jose Bautista and Jose Reyes to pinch-hit against Aroldis Chapman in the ninth, the Yankees’ bulging core of precocious kids inflicted the damage on the home team.
And though it was Judge busting out of a 3-for-29 funk that included groundouts to shortstop Amed Rosario in the first, third and fifth innings before providing the difference-maker, No. 99 fairly gushed about German, who will turn 26 next month.
“Just the mental toughness out of Domingo, just to go out there and keep pounding the strike zone was impressive,” Judge said. “The crowd was electric. Fans were going crazy, especially in that first inning when they jumped out, there were those home runs, but he didn’t seem fazed. He just came back in the dugout, sat down and did his normal routine and got up there and did the same for the next couple of innings. It was impressive to watch.”
The Yankees beat teams on talent, but they also beat teams with mental fortitude. Their young players seem to have been in the league for a decade. German’s performance provides merely the latest example.
There is still going to be a hole in the rotation while Tanaka is out. That could be manageable for the short haul. After the first four batters on Saturday, the Yankees seemed to face a more perilous situation. But not after another six innings-plus. Prognosis positive.
