Bronx, NY- In a city full of energy that never sleeps, the crosstown New York baseball rivals, Mets and Yankees clashed for round two of the Subway Series on Monday evening at Yankee Stadium. As bragging rights across the Big Apple were up for grabs, Yankees starter Domingo Germán outdueled future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer. Led by Germán’s efficiency and an array of Yankees offense, the Bronx Bombers secured the 4-2 victory in front of 48,760 rocking New York fans in attendance.
Germán, of San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic, neutralized the Mets offense with firing command, forcing his opponents to four hits, and two runs across 6.1 innings pitched. The 30-year-old tallied three strikeouts on 86 pitches, 61 for strikes. The curveball was the ultimate factor in Germán keeping Mets batters off-balanced.
“He was dictating counts and getting ahead in the counts. He’s unpredictable with his three pitches, so when you can do that, you’ve got a chance to be successful,” said Yankees manager Aaron Boone. “It’s just good to see him go out there and have another strong one.”
Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
Regarding his splendid night, the right hander battled through a variety of adversity. After fighting off a James McCann comebacker to the right ankle, Germán finished a straining sixth inning unscathed. He continued his productive groove until the top of the seventh as a defensive mishap deemed an error on rookie 2B Oswaldo Cabrera created a Mets potential scoring opportunity.
What followed was Mets DH Daniel Vogelbach taking advantage of a 0-1 curveball with a ripped two-run HR to right center field. As the Yankees lead fell into jeopardy, Boone elected to the bullpen for stability.
“I just felt he was kind of getting a little bit stronger at that time and that’s where he made his one mistake,” the Yankees skipper said.
“That’s obviously a really good team in a big time environment, and for him to come in and throw the ball like that. That’s what he’s capable of and that’s what we’re working to get him to.”
The Yankees redeemed themselves from last month’s two-game sweep set out by the Mets at Citi Field. Now, a visiting Mets ball club whose 15-8 in the month of August, leading the NL East by 3-games, and perhaps, attempting to steal New York from under the Yankees.
The current status of the respective division leads along with the anticipation of Mets versus Yankees made for postseason-like intensity in the stadium. Germán seemed to feed off the stadium’s energy in route to overpowering the Mets.
“I think he loved being in this environment, you could feel that energy out there. I think he liked that,” stated Boone. Monday’s Yankee Stadium crowd marked a sell out as well as the largest paid ticketed game of the season in the Bronx.
In spite of Monday’s success, the Yankees have faced a multitude of injuries, up-and-down performances, team slumps with every avenue in between. The Bronx Bombers have gone 11-20 since All Star Break. Monday night’s victory is a step back to the Yankees first-half winning methods. A first-half where the team in the Bronx stood 13-games up for the AL East division lead.
“It’s time to get back to what we do,” said Judge, who crushed his MLB season leading 47th HR off Scherzer on Monday evening. “We got a special group of individuals,” he added.
Image Credit: Daniel Budasoff/Latino Sports
The Yankees offense executed aggressively, early in counts to compromise Scherzer’s arsenal. Judge and Benintendi led the charge, combining for four hits and three RBI.
In a daunting 48-hour window from Sunday and Monday, the Bronx Bombers faced opposing ace talent Blue Jays Alex Manoah followed by the three-time Cy Young Award winner in Scherzer. And were able to compile two in the win column. Overall, the Yankees look back into original form, the mantra of winning the day, inning by inning.
“It’s now onto the next one and keeping our head down,” Boone concluded. “At our core, we’re a really good team.”
For sure, the energy of the crosstown New York rivals made for the playoff-like atmosphere. Germán earned the victory and bragging rights on Monday night. Can the Yankees carry the momentum into Tuesday? I believe so, one inning at a time.
“Follow us on instagram@latinosportsoficial for updates and exclusive content”
Robert Rizzo writes for Latino Sports
Follow on Twitter: @RobertRiz994
Email: RobertRiz994@gmail.com
Watch Sports with Rich live on Tuesday Nights at 8pm EST on The SLG Network/Youtube with host Rich Mancuso and cohost Robert Rizzo.
Available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify under The SLG Network.
