German steadies Yanks with 3-1 win over punchless Tigers
NEW YORK (AP) — Domingo German overcame control problems on a chilly night to win for the first time since last June, Gary Sanchez and Brett Gardner homered and the banged-up New York Yankees beat the punchless Detroit Tigers 3-1 Monday.
Aaron Judge made a sprawling, backhand catch on Niko Goodrum’s hard-hit liner after Adam Ottavino walked the first two batters in the eighth inning, a drive that would have tied the score if it had gotten by the right fielder.
New York lost two more regulars to the 10-day injured list before the game after they got hurt a day earlier, outfielder Giancarlo Stanton with a strained left biceps and third baseman Miguel Andujar with a small labrum tear in his right shoulder.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Andujar, runner-up for AL Rookie of the Year last season, will be treated conservatively with a rehab program and there is some optimism he will respond well. But if not, he could need surgery.
They joined a group of sidelined Yankees that includes pitchers Luis Severino, Dellin Betances and Jordan Montgomery, shortstop Didi Gregorius and outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury; pitcher CC Sabathia is set to join them Wednesday, after he completes a suspension for hitting a batter with a pitch last September.
German has been plugged into the rotation like grout between tiles. Boone wasn’t even sure Sunday whether the 26-year-old right-hander would start, or a relief pitcher as an opener would take the mound.
German induced 16 swings and misses among 79 pitches on a raw night with a 45-degree temperature at game time and a cold wind, allowing one hit in five innings. He struck out seven and walked five, and the only run off him was unearned. He made 14 starts and seven relief appearances last year, when he entered the rotation after Montgomery tore an elbow ligament, and German’s only previous big league wins came in starts against Tampa Bay and Seattle last June 14 and 19.
Chad Green, Zack Britton, Ottavino and Aroldis Chapman each pitched an inning to finish the two-hitter, and Chapman earned his first save. New York got back to .500 at 2-2 after consecutive losses to lowly Baltimore.
Detroit arrived after a four-game split at Toronto in which the Tigers scored six runs. Jordy Mercer had both hits for the Tigers, who are batting .140 with one home run. He singled in the fourth and doubled in the seventh.
Detroit starter Tyson Ross gave up three runs — two earned — four hits and four walks in five innings. He was done in with a pair of pitches that missed high, with Sanchez hitting a 417-foot drive to center in the second and Gardner hitting his first home run of the year in the fifth.
New York scored its second run in the third when Greg Bird’s one-hop, opposite-field single glanced off the glove of Christin Stewart and bounced behind the left fielder. Slow-footed Luke Voit sprinted home from first and slid home ahead of the relay throw.
Detroit scored in the fourth when German bounced a wild pitch with two on and Sanchez was charged with an error for the third straight day when his catchable throw sailed by the glove of second baseman Gleyber Torres.
LONG ROUTE
Detroit flew to Albany, New York, on Sunday night to go through U.S. customs, then continued to Newark, New Jersey.
IN THE LINEUP
Mike Tauchman, acquired from Colorado on March 23, got his first start for New York, taking over from Stanton in left field. Tauchman went 0 for 3.
UP NEXT
Detroit RHP Jordan Zimmermann (0-0) starts Tuesday. He was perfect for 6 2/3 innings against Toronto last Thursday before Teoscar Hernandez’s single, the longest perfect-game bid in a season opener since Boston’s Lefty Grove in 1940, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Zimmermann allowed one hit in seven innings and did not get a decision. RHP Masahiro Tanaka (1-0) starts for the Yankees after beating Baltimore on opening day.
