Domingo German disappoints again as Yankees’ bats look lifeless vs. Mariners rookie Bryan Woo

With Domingo German fresh off a two-inning, seven-run start his last time out, Aaron Boone noted that players are prone to “hiccups here and there” over the course of a long season. But the right-hander failed to bounce back in epic fashion on Thursday, as German surrendered eight earned runs in a 10-2 loss to the Mariners.

All 10 runs scored on the starter’s watch, but a two-error play involving Josh Donaldson and German in the third inning kept the latter off the double-digit hook. It also continued a stretch of careless play for the Yankees and was one of several moments that brought about thunderous boos in the Bronx on Thursday.

“Awful day at the park for us,” Boone said afterward. “We got to dig in, get Domingo back online.”

German put the Yankees in an immediate 4-0 hole when Seattle strung together a few hits and a sacrifice fly in the first inning. Kolten Wong and Ty France then went deep in the second frame, while Teoscar Hernandez and Cal Raleigh added back-to back dingers in the fourth inning.

The Big Dumper’s homer fittingly ended a night German would like to flush from his memory.

Asked to wear a dreadful performance for as long as he could, German totaled 3.1 innings, eight hits, eight earned runs, two walks, four strikeouts and four longballs over 93 pitches. Considered the Yankees’ second-best starter just two outings ago, he now has a 5.10 ERA.

“Sometimes it happens,” German said of another rough game. “It’s hard to figure out where the issue is. If it’s mechanical, if it’s the release point. Are they adjusting or they’re seeing the pitch well? So it’s one of those things that is hard to figure out. At the same time, you got to keep working. It doesn’t stop. You gotta find what kinds of solutions you can apply and put into work.”

While German never gave the Yankees a chance, their offense didn’t show much life, a common theme in recent weeks.

With Mariners rookie Bryan Woo on the mound, the Yankees didn’t pick up a hit until the sixth. The right-hander already had a huge lead to work with at that point, and he cruised for 5.1 scoreless innings while tallying three walks and five strikeouts over 93 pitches.

“He was just staying off the heart of the plate,” Anthony Rizzo said of Woo. “The strike to ball stuff was kind of exploding out of his hand. He had good stuff all around the zone and just not much over the middle.”

The Yankees’ only runs came in the ninth inning when Isiah Kiner-Falefa, fresh off his second pitching appearance of the last week, homered to left.

While the Yankees played some more ugly baseball on Thursday, they did win their first series since June 3 against Seattle. Now they’ll look to rebound against another American League West opponent, the first-place Rangers.

Texas begins a three-game series in New York on Friday. The Rangers hadn’t announced their pitching plans at the time of publication, but Clarke Schmidt will start the series opener for the Yankees.

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