Twins manager ejected after umpires leave Yankees pitcher in game following sticky substance check

Minnesota Twins manager Rocco Baldelli was ejected from Saturday’s game after arguing a sticky substance check.

After the top of the third inning, an umpire checked New York Yankees’ Domingo German, which happens at the end of every inning. However, this check was longer than usual, but German was not found guilty of any wrongdoing.

However, when German came back out for the fourth, all of the umps collectively checked on German in an extensive search. But once again, German was cleared.

However, umpire James Hoye seemed to say he “told [German] to wipe [something] off,” and German was told to wash his hands.

Baldelli came out of the Twins dugout for an explanation, but his anger grew, and he was tossed from the matinée.

German went on to strike out a career-high 11 batters in 6.1 innings of work while retiring the first 16 batters he faced in the Yanks’ 6-1 victory.

German’s spin rates were down after the extensive check, but minimally, which could have been due to a number of factors ranging from lack of substance, fatigue as the game goes on, or simply just lack of execution of pitches.

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Yankees manager Aaron Boone said after the game that German had too much rosin on his hands and had put some on before taking the mound, which is why the umpires told him to wash his hands.

Baldelli did not accuse German of using an illegal substance, but said German should have been ejected, since he had been told to remove the rosin after the third but still had it when he began the fourth.

“He was warned. He didn’t fully comply, I would say, with the warning, from what I was told, and was still allowed to keep pitching. That’s it. I just don’t agree with that in principle. . . . ” Baldelli said after the game. “When he comes back, doesn’t comply with what he was asked to do, has something on his hand that he shouldn’t . . . and then he casually can just walk to the mound and keep pitching, it kind of goes against a lot of the things that we’ve talked about this year and some of the adjustments we’re making in baseball. I was upset at it, and that’s it.”

At the end of the day though, since rosin is legal, the umpiring crew felt it did not warrant an ejection.

It was the first victory for the Yanks in the four-game set after the Twins took the first two.