Domingo German was heavily grilled by the umpiring crew on Saturday afternoon after pitching four perfect innings, but he and Aaron Boone both said that the righty was cleared after it was cleared up that German had been using a rosin bag in the dugout on his way to the mound.
“They didn’t see anything, there was just tackiness from rosin,” Boone clarified. “He doesn’t hit the rosin out there, but he hits it before it comes out. It was just a level that caught [the umpire’s] attention."
The umpires told German to wash his hands after he came off the mound, which German did, but after going through his normal routine of using the rosin bag on his way back out, there was a similar level of tackiness when the umpires surprised him with another check on his way back to the mound.
German admittedly worried that he could be ejected from the game.
“It felt like that coming out of the inning and coming back out, but when I use the rosin bag, it’s the same consistency,” German said.
“When I went back out, the discussion was intense. There was a moment there I thought things might get out of hand, but I was able to tell them there was a rosin bag I used in the dugout…he was able to understand and reason. He discussed that with the other umpires, and they said ‘OK, go back out there and pitch.’”
German did not get thrown out, but Twins manager Rocco Baldelli did, and Boone told reporters that the umpires who examined German eventually accepted German’s explanation and didn’t feel as though there was enough on his hand to warrant an ejection.
“I just don’t think it reached a level. Any time the pitcher is out there, there is always a little bit you get from the rosin,” Boone said. “It was really just ‘wash your hands and get rid of the rosin,’ because that was all it was.”
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