Controversies and injuries aside, Luis Severino's anticipated return a lift for Yankees

TORONTO – Beyond the smoldering controversies involving the Yankees, and the gamesmanship with the Blue Jays, there was some genuine optimism on the visitor’s side.

Having won the first two games of a four-game set at Rogers Centre, the Yankees announced that Luis Severino would return to their rotation Sunday at Cincinnati.

With a staff already thinned out by injury, the Yankees won’t have Domingo German for the next 10 days, anticipating his MLB suspension for use of a foreign substance on his pitching hand Tuesday.

But Severino was already earmarked to join the rotation this weekend, before German’s costly mistake.

German, through an interpreter, insisted it was excess use of the sandy rosin bag, though Tuesday night’s umpiring crew said the ultra-sticky substance on his pitching hand was not rosin.

Either way, Sunday “was going to be in play’’ for Severino, especially with Monday as a team off day, according to Aaron Boone.

“In my mind, it was about (Severino) coming through all right,’’ said the manager, a day after Severino’s 3.1 inning (one run), 58-pitch effort Tuesday night for Class AA Somerset.

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“And Sevy certainly wants to get going up here,’’ said Boone, “regardless of what’s going on’’ with German’s situation, and with replacement starters Jhony Brito (5.20 ERA) and Clarke Schmidt (6.30 ERA) on shaky ground.

Sidelined since spring training due to a lat strain, Severino has “looked healthy’’ in his two rehab starts, said Boone, who might expect to get up to 75 pitches out of the right-hander against the Reds.

Fallout from Domingo German controversy

Meanwhile, the Yankees recalled lefty reliever Nick Ramirez from Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre before Wednesday's game, with reliever Ian Hamilton being placed on the 15-day injured list.

Hamilton was sent back to New York for further evaluation, after suffering a strained right groin Tuesday night, as the first reliever to sub for German.

One of the nice surprises in Boone's bullpen this year, Hamilton posted a 1.23 ERA over his first 16 appearances, with 30 strikeouts in 22 innings while limiting opponents to a .192 batting average.

Hamilton had been managing some groin discomfort last week, and it's an issue he dealt with last season, according to Boone, but his injury was one more fallout from the German situation.

Through an interpreter, German insisted Tuesday that he was merely using the sandy rosin bag, mixed with his own sweat, though crew chief James Hoye said was "the stickiest hand I've ever felt,'' and that the substance in question "was definitely not rosin.''

A disappointed-sounding Boone said he spoke at length with German after the game, and there had been additional discussions on the topic Wednesday.

"He went over the line, the umpires deemed,'' said Boone. "And we have to live with the consequences of it.''

Yankees captain Aaron Judge called it a ''tough'' situation.

"I think Domingo learned from what happened (Tuesday night). It’s a tough spot, he was pitching great,'' setting down all nine Blue Jays he faced.

"It’s something we’ll definitely talk about over the next couple of days,'' Judge said. "But I think quite a few people have been in his ear about it.''

Base coach controversy

MLB's directive Tuesday for the umpires to mind where the base coaches were positioned - at the behest of the Blue Jays - was born from Toronto's suspicions that the Yankees were picking up on some tipped pitches Monday.

That suspicion was heightened for Toronto by TV cameras catching Aaron Judge's darting glance just before several of reliever Jay Jackson's pitches in Monday's eighth inning, the last of which - yet another slider - was blasted 462 feet to center for a home run.

Tuesday, the Athletic quoted Jackson as saying he learned he was tipping his pitches, something Blue Jays manager John Schneider said that "we kind of pointed out to him'' before he was optioned to the minors after Monday's game.

Anyway, there was a good bit of back-and-forth between the coaches in Toronto’s dugout and Yankees third base coach Luis Rojas as to positioning Tuesday, with tempers escalating.

Boone went back at the Jays, alerting Hoye as to the out-of-the-box positioning of Toronto’s third base coach.

After the game, the Yankees manager dismissed the whole matter as “silliness’’ and hoped it would cease on both sides Wednesday.

“Just some weird circumstances kind of led us to be more aware of it this series,’’ Schneider said earlier Wednesday, adding that he was not directing comments at anyone on the Yankees bench in particular when he was seen shouting: “Shut up, fat boy,’’ or words to that effect Tuesday night.

“Heat of the moment,’’ Schneider said.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Luis Severino's anticipated weekend return a lift for Yankees staff