Cheat or not? Domingo Germán suspended by Major League Baseball

Although everything seemed to end as it did, it was not until now that it became official. Domingo Germán ended up expelled from the match between the Toronto Blue Jays and his New York Yankees for allegedly using sticky substances to improve his grip on the ball, but not only that, he also received a 10-game suspension for this unfortunate event. In the end, it was the word of the player against the umpires and the commission commissioned by Major League Baseball.

The Dominican had thrown just 3 innings and allowed 2 hits without a run in his duel against the Blue Birds when the main referee, James Hoye, decided that the best thing would be to throw him out after an exhaustive review of his hands. Although the pitcher claimed that it was rosin, the central umpire commented that it was the stickiest hand he had ever felt and that without a doubt, they contained another substance and not only the one that is legal for these cases.

The verbatim words of the authority were: “It was extremely shiny and extremely sticky. It was the stickiest hand I’ve ever felt.”.

In this way, the native of the island of merengue becomes the second pitcher to pay for this cause so far this year, since the first was Max Scherzer, a star figure for the New York Mets who was also caught in the same conditions. Then, as now, the multiple Cy Young Award winner swore he wasn’t cheating.

Still, the league remains tough on the issue, thoroughly checking pitchers before and after they take the mound. In fact, Germán himself had already had a problem on April 15 against the Minnesota Twins; on a couple of occasions he was called out for applying too much rosin to his hand. Now, he will have to pay the consequences of his actions.

Did the quisqueyan really use something additional? Did the head referee overreact? Everything will remain a mystery.