OAKLAND, Calif. — While the Yankees never publicly admitted it, they had to wonder how long they could stick with Michael Pineda in the rotation.
Struggles from the stretch and with the slider hounded the right-hander for most of the season and especially as he was punished in his previous two starts.
Those concerns weren’t put to rest Sunday, when the right-hander helped the Yankees complete a four-game sweep of the A’s with a 5-4 victory, because there is room for improvement. However, Pineda and the Yankees came away encouraged by a six-inning effort in which he allowed three runs, six hits, issued a walk and fanned six.
“He was better. I thought he made strides,’’ pitching coach Larry Rothschild said of Pineda, who is 2-5 after winning for the first time since April 6 when he was lucky enough to work a game in which the Yankees scored 16 runs. “We need to make more strides.’’
Working out of the stretch was a problem for Pineda in his previous two starts, when he got smoked. On Sunday, Rothschild saw improvement.
“I think it was better. I wouldn’t say significantly,’’ Rothschild said. “He made some strides with it and we need to keep working on it.’’
Like the improvement in the stretch and with the slider, which is Pineda’s out pitch, he made positive steps in the first inning, which had been giving him problems.
Entering Sunday’s game, Pineda’s eight opening innings this season had resulted in a 13.50 ERA, a .500 batting average against (21-for-42) and a 1.508 OPS.
That didn’t vanish — Pineda gave up a run in the first Sunday. The A’s also scored twice in the fifth to take a 3-2 lead, but Pineda rebounded with a perfect sixth after the Yankees scored twice in the top half of the inning.
“All my pitches were down. That’s what I was looking for,’’ Pineda said.
One improved performance doesn’t mean Pineda has left the lousy start to his season behind, but had he gotten pounded again the Yankees would have had to seriously consider an alternate plan for a pitcher they viewed as their No. 2 starter out of spring training.