TORONTO — Domingo German officially began serving his 10-game suspension on Wednesday night, even if questions about his use of foreign substances remained.
The Yankees right-hander declined to appeal the automatic suspension, along with an undisclosed fine, that came from being ejected from his Tuesday start for a failed sticky-stuff inspection before the bottom of the fourth inning.
That meant for 10 games, starting Wednesday, the Yankees would have to play a man short, unable to replace German on the roster.
“At the end of the day, he went over the line that the umpires deemed and now we gotta live with the consequences of that,” manager Aaron Boone said before the series continued at Rogers Centre.
Still, there was a major discrepancy between the two sides on Tuesday night.
German insisted he was using only the rosin bag on the mound while crew chief James Hoye said whatever was on German’s hand was “definitely not rosin.”
“There’s been more discussions [Wednesday], maintaining that it’s the rosin that rose to a level that was too much,” Boone said.
Asked if Hoye was wrong, Boone said he did not know.
“Because I actually didn’t go over and look or feel [German’s hand],” Boone said. “I was just taking in what James had told me and moving on and trying to think ahead of how we were going to get through that game.”
As for the brown residue that cameras captured on German’s pants, he said it was chewing tobacco that he wiped on with his hand, which video from the YES Network broadcast corroborated.
In the meantime, the Yankees were left having to pick up the pieces of how to survive the next 10 games with a 25-man roster.
The good news for the club was that German’s next turn through the rotation will be filled by Luis Severino, who will come off the injured list to start Sunday against the Reds in Cincinnati. Severino threw a second rehab start Tuesday night for Double-A Somerset, and Boone said the Yankees’ rotation problems did not make them bring Severino back earlier than they wanted.
“I’m very comfortable with it,” Boone said.
The Yankees also have an off day on Monday, which should help them rearrange their rotation if needed and give their pitching staff some rest.
Barring any postponed games, German will be eligible to return to the Yankees on May 28 against the Padres.
Until then, there could be a shuttle of bullpen arms between The Bronx and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to make sure the Yankees are properly covered.
“Every day is unique,” Boone said. “There’s days when you have the full allotment of pitchers where you’re short anyway, depending on how the week’s gone or what’s transpired sometimes the day before. So not much different. You go in knowing who’s available, knowing what you have and you work off of that.
“We just gotta make do. … No one player needs to carry this load. We’ll share it all and we’ll do it together.”
While German is serving his suspension, he would also like to get some clarity on the proper use of rosin.
Tuesday’s umpiring crew that ejected German was the same one that made him wash his hands in between innings of an April 15 start against the Twins at Yankee Stadium because of excessive rosin.
German said the crew noted that it did not see him using the rosin bag on the mound during that April 15 start — instead he said he used one from the dugout — so on Tuesday, he made a point of using the rosin bag on the mound often.
“I followed instructions, I’m not using it enough [on the mound] and now I use it too much,” German said through an interpreter. “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.”