The New York Yankees enjoyed the swings they saw from Jasson Dominguez’s bat in his first three games.
Now they are intrigued by Dominguez taking swings at Yankee Stadium for the first time as the switch-hitting outfielder makes his home debut Tuesday night in the opener of a three-game series against the Detroit Tigers.
“I think it’s going to be big time,” Dominguez said of his upcoming home debut.
The Yankees are returning from a 7-3 road trip through Tampa, Detroit and Houston. One of their best stretches of this season occurred after New York went 3-12 to fall under .500, a slide that coincided with Dominguez being promoted from Double-A Somerset to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre.
In his brief time at Triple-A, Dominguez batted .419 (13-for-31), drove in 10 runs and had an OPS of 1.094 in nine games. On Friday at Houston, he hit a two-run homer in his first career at-bat. In Sunday’s 6-1 win, the 20-year-old contributed a tiebreaking two-run homer in the sixth inning.
“He’s lived up to every ounce of hype that I’ve heard,” New York pitcher Michael King said. “I heard he was otherworldly and he comes out here and just dominates.”
Dominquez is part of a lineup featuring five rookies in Austin Wells, Everson Pereira, Oswald Peraza and Anthony Volpe. The Yankees (68-69) outscored the Astros 17-7 and the first-year players combined for nine RBIs in the three-game sweep.
The Yankees took three of four last week in Detroit. The Tigers (63-74) followed it up by sweeping the host Chicago White Sox and are attempting to match a season high by winning five straight for the third time.
On Sunday, Spencer Torkelson hit a tiebreaking homer in the seventh inning of a 3-2 win. He went 4-for-11 in the series and has 17 homers since June 27. The successful weekend gave the Tigers a 28-15 mark against AL Central foes, but outside of their division they are 35-59, including a dreadful 6-23 record against AL East teams.
“You’ve got to beat teams in your division,” Detroit starter Tarik Skubal said after pitching seven innings of two-run ball. “Obviously the different (balanced) schedule changes things. We need to be better out of our division. Especially against the American League East, who we are about to go play.”
New York ace Gerrit Cole (12-4, 2.95 ERA) attempts to win three straight starts for the first time since winning his initial four outings from March 30-April 16. Cole followed up 11 strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings at Tampa Bay on Aug. 25 by fanning seven and allowing two runs in six innings Wednesday in Detroit.
Cole has allowed two runs or fewer in 21 starts this season and is taking the mound at home for the first time since Aug. 19 when he allowed six runs in four innings of an 8-1 loss to Boston.
Cole is 8-1 with a 2.03 ERA in 12 career starts against Detroit and retiring slugger Miguel Cabrera is 5-for-23 against him. The right-hander has dominated his two starts in the Bronx against the Tigers, taking a perfect game into the seventh on June 3, 2022, and getting 12 strikeouts in six innings of a 10-0 win on April 30, 2021.
The Tigers did not announce a starter as of Monday morning but it could be Matt Manning (5-4, 3.62). The right-hander is 2-0 with an 0.38 ERA in his past four starts and allowed two hits in six scoreless innings in Thursday’s 4-3 win over the Yankees, whom he faced for the first time.
—Field Level Media
