Domingo German’s breakout season has come largely on the back of his dominant curveball.
That wasn’t the case Thursday afternoon, as the Yankees beat the Rays 6-2 in the first game of a doubleheader.
After waiting an hour and 26 minutes for a rain-less rain delay, Austin Meadows launched German’s fourth pitch of the afternoon, a curveball, into the right-field stands. Four pitches later, Yandy Díaz took another hanging curve and sent it over the left-field wall. Just eight pitches into the game, German had the Yankees trailing 2-0.
Some, especially those with his relative lack of experience, would fail to rebound from such a start.