Accused of doctoring the baseball by Red Sox announcers, Michael Pineda said the substance on his right hand/wrist area caught on camera was nothing more than dirt.
When asked about the possibility Pineda had applied illegal pine tar to the pitching hand in Thursday’s 4-1 Yankees victory at the Stadium, the Red Sox yawned.
“Everybody uses pine tar, no big deal,’’ Red Sox slugger David Ortiz said.
Not once did the umpires travel to the mound to inspect Pineda’s hand.
“The Red Sox didn’t bring it to our attention, so there is nothing we can do about it,’’ crew chief Brian O’Nora said. “If they bring it to our attention, then you’ve got to do something, but they didn’t bring it to our attention.’’
Re: Pineda’s hand. Certainly Sox aware by now; if they don’t complain, it tells you (again) this is standard operating procedure for P’s.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) April 11, 2014
Cortesía de @YesNetwork La mano de Michael Pineda en la 3ra y 5ta entrada. pic.twitter.com/joNHbnhFKP
— Fernando Alvarez (@FerAlvarez) April 11, 2014
Lifting Pineda in top seventh, Girardi shook the hurler’s hand . . . AND GOT STUCK TO HIM! Just kidding . . . I think
— Dan Shaughnessy (@Dan_Shaughnessy) April 11, 2014
Pineda said it was nothing more than a mixture of sweat and Yankee Stadium dirt that cameras saw on his hand.
“Between innings I was sweating too much and I put my hand in the dirt,’’ Pineda said. “Nobody asked me and nobody said nothing.’’
Manager Joe Girardi and catcher Brian McCann said they didn’t know anything about the controversy. Instead, they focused on Pineda’s impressive performance, which netted him his first Yankees win in his initial Stadium appearance. It was Pineda’s first big league win since 2011 after missing the previous two seasons because of tricky shoulder surgery.
“His stuff was electric,’’ McCann said of Pineda’s 96-mph fastball, filthy slider and a changeup the right-hander used more than he did last weekend in Toronto. “He has two [fastballs]. Some cut more than others. Some cut all the way across the zone.’’
Perhaps the Red Sox knew if Pineda was using an illegal substance on the ball, it wouldn’t be wise to protest because Clay Buchholz’s habit of going to the back of his moist hair has raised the question among hitters that he gets something extra from the exercise.
However, the way Pineda pitched across six innings, perhaps the Red Sox should have at least played with his head.
Until Daniel Nava led off the seventh with a homer that landed in the second deck of seats in right field, Pineda had blanked the visitors and allowed two hits.
“All the pitches were working good,’’ said Pineda, who exited after Xander Bogaerts followed Nava’s homer with a single and was replaced by neophyte lefty Cesar Cabral. “The slider was good and the changeup was outstanding.’’
Pineda, who allowed four hits, walked two and fanned seven, received help from numerous areas.
Red Sox third baseman Jonathan Herrera bobbled Jacoby Ellsbury’s routine ground ball leading off the fourth inning and the error led to a pair of unearned runs. McCann stopped a 0-for-14 slide with an RBI single in the inning and Dean Anna swatted his first big league home run in the fifth off Buchholz.
Working with a bullpen that was without David Robertson (disabled list), Shawn Kelley (30 pitches Wednesday night) and Adam Warren (two appearances in the previous three games), Girardi got creative after Pineda.
Cabral fanned A.J. Pierzynski and Jackie Bradley Jr. Girardi then went to David Phelps and he got pinch-hitter Ryan Roberts on a grounder to Derek Jeter.
Phelps worked a perfect eighth and Girardi was rewarded by sending the right-hander to the mound for the ninth with three consecutive outs that produced the first save of Phelps’ big league career.
“When I got into the game, I knew I had to get seven outs,’’ said Phelps, although lefty Matt Thornton threw in the bullpen during the ninth. “Every time I came in [the dugout], they asked me how I felt. I wanted to finish it.’’