The Yankees won the first game of their doubleheader against the Rays on Thursday, 6-2. >> Box score

Five takeaways from Thursday's game

1) Domingo German shook a bad first two batters en route to his 12th win of the season. The first two batters for the Rays, Austin Meadows and Yandy Diaz, both homered off of German on the fourth pitch of their at-bats. Despite the rocky start, German settled in and on his next 82 pitches (90 total), he only allowed two more hits and none in his final three innings. In total, German tossed six innings with five strikeouts.

2) While German and the Yanks were down early, the offense quickly came to the rescue. In the second inning, the Yankees took advantage of a Rays error to tie the game. Didi Gregorius' hit a pop fly to Diaz at third, but it was dropped. Gregorius ended up one second base thanks to his hustle, but he ended up jogging home as Gio Urshela hit a home run to right field during the next at-bat, tying the game 2-2. Urshela had a strong game overall, going 3-for-4, with 3 RBI.

3) The Yankees offense wasn't the only one providing fireworks, skipper Aaron Boone did, too. Brett Gardner struck out in the second inning. Gardner was not happy with the way home plate umpire Brennan Miller was calling balls and strikes. Gardner went back to the dugout and slamming his bat. Boone then could clearly be heard yelling from the dugout at the rookie umpire, "really bad start." Boone then exited the dugout to exchange more words and was eventually ejected from the game. It was Boone's third ejection of the year. Earlier in the game in the first inning, catcher Gary Sanchez also got into it with Miller, shaking his head at a call by the home plate umpire but later in the sixth inning, Aaron Judge was called out looking once again on a low pitch that appeared out of the strike zone.

4) While the tying inning was the second, the winning one was the fifth for the Yankees and they took advantage of a few Rays' defensive adjustments. After Judge singled and moved to third on Aaron Hicks' ground-rule double, the Rays shifted their defense to get the out at home. On the ensuing at-bat, Sanchez drilled a line drive toward Diaz at third but it was too much to handle and Judge scored off the deflection. Hicks later scored in the inning on a Luke Voit single, as he hit against the defensive shift. Ursehla then had another double, scoring Voit, to put the Yankees up 5-2. Hicks also added another insurance run in the sixth with a solo home run to right field.

5) Down the stretch, the Yankees turned to three pitchers from the bullpen and once again, the group was dominant. David Hale allowed a late double in the ninth inning to Kevin Kiermaier, but otherwise, things went smoothly. Zack Britton threw one scoreless inning, striking out the side in the eighth, while Tommy Kahnle had a scoreless inning of work in the seventh.

Highlights

5th Inning Fury. pic.twitter.com/45Zkv7ucqN
- New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 18, 2019

What's next

The Yankees and Rays continue their doubleheader on Thursday as the Yankees' Chad Green (2-3, 5.05 ERA) will face Charlie Morton (11-2, 2.35) on the mound.

Five takeaways from Thursday's game

Highlights

What's next

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