Pineda Dominates As Yankees Pummel Red Sox 8-1
Mar 18, 2014; Tampa, FL, USANew York Yankees starting pitcher Michael Pineda (35) throws a pitch during the first inning against the Boston Red Sox at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Tuesday’s Yankees-Red Sox matchup was all about one pitcher, Michael Pineda.
He pitched 4.1 innings while giving up 4 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, and struck out five Red Sox (Jonny Gomes twice, Xander Boegarts, David Ross, and Mike Carp). His fastball averaged at about 90-92, touching 93-94 occasionally, but his go-to pitch was his slider, which was used as the “out-pitch” for all five of his strikeouts.
Pineda left the game to a loud applause with one out in the fifth inning and a runner on second base (David Ross) by new closer David Robertson. Though Ross would end up on third base after a single by Jonathan Herrera, Robertson would strike out Jackie Bradley Jr. and Gomes to escape further trouble.
The scoring began immediately when Alfonso Soriano lined a single to right-center field scoring Brett Gardner from second base.
The second was the big scoring inning for the Yankees, when they scored four runs on RBI singles from Ichiro Suzuki, Derek Jeter, and Mark Teixeira. They would tack on three more runs in the fourth on a long three run home run to left field by Alfonso Soriano.
The game was pretty much finished at that point.
Things are looking good as some key offensive players are hitting and it looks like Michael Pineda has returned to form and will contribute to the team in 2014.