TORONTO — That brown residue near the hip of Domingo German’s pants after he was ejected for a failed foreign-substance check Tuesday night?
Chewing tobacco, he said, which video from the YES broadcast corroborated.
But the Yankees right-hander still has some issues he will have to sort out during his upcoming 10-game suspension.
When German had a run-in with umpires last month about his sticky hand, they noted that they did not see him using the rosin bag on the mound.
So with the same umpiring crew on the field for his start on Tuesday night against the Blue Jays, German made a point of using the rosin bag on the mound often.
The result was an ejection and a subsequent suspension that the Yankees will now have to deal with.
While most foreign-substance checks for starting pitchers happen at the end of innings, first-base umpire D.J. Reyburn checked German after the bottom of the first and then again before the bottom of the fourth.
According to Hoye, Reyburn intended to check German after the third inning, but he was out of position to make an out call to end that frame, so he performed the check as German walked towards the mound for the bottom of the fourth instead.
“We all had the same opinion: shiny, extremely sticky, and it’s the worst hand we’ve ever felt during a game,” Hoye said.
Unlike his start against the Twins last month, when he said he was applying rosin in the dugout, German insisted he was only using the sand-like rosin bag on the mound Tuesday before being ejected entering the bottom of the fourth.
“From the last start a couple games ago, they mentioned that I wasn’t using it enough on the mound,” German said through an interpreter, referring to the umpiring crew led by James Hoye. “So [Tuesday] I was using it on the mound and that’s it. A lot of usage.
“Between pitches, I made sure I was grabbing the rosin bag so they could see I was using it as they instructed the last game against Minnesota.”
After German’s ejection, video circulated on social media of him having a brown residue on his pants.
But the fuller version of the scene from the YES broadcast showed German standing in the dugout with nothing on that area, going to his mouth to take out his tobacco and then placing his right hand back on his hip, which appeared to leave the brown substance.
Following the game, manager Aaron Boone met with German for a private conversation that the right-hander said included “good words of encouragement” but also conveying the message that they have to find a way to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
German said he is hoping to get some “clear direction” on the proper usage of rosin.
“I followed instructions, I’m not using it [in the dugout] and now I use it [on the mound] too much,” German said.
“There was a problem because it was too much on my hand. Summer is coming, we’re going to be sweating a lot out there. You need the grip, but you also want clear direction from them to see what’s appropriate and what’s too much.”
