MIKE PITCHES LIKE ROYALTY
Pineda delivers a ‘W’ against KC in latest pitch to be Yanks’ ace
Michael Pineda baffled the Yankees in 2016 with his inability to finish off innings, but this season he’s bearing down and getting big outs when he needs them. The best example of that on Monday night: when Pineda won a 12-pitch battle with Salvador Perez in the fourth inning of the Yankees’ 4-2 win at Yankee Stadium, getting the Royals’ powerhitting catcher to pop out to first after Eric Hosmer had led off the frame with a double.
“I think it’s the ability to get big outs when he needs to get them,” Joe Girardi said of the difference with Pineda in 2017. “A lot of times that’s what it comes down to for pitchers — the difference between a win and a loss — getting a big out when you need to get it, and he’s been better at that this year.”
In 2016, hitters batted .325 against Pineda with two outs. On Monday night, the Royals went 1-for-7 against Pineda with two outs (.262 overall in 2017).
“I just executed my pitches down and I got him,” Pineda said of his battle with Perez. “He was swinging defensively at home plate, but I was just fighting and making my best pitch down.”
Pineda improved to 5-2 with a 3.35 ERA over his first nine starts of the season after giving up two earned runs on six hits in 6.1 innings. He’s gone at least six innings in his last four outings and hasn’t given up more than three earned runs since his first start of 2017. It’s an impressive improvement following a disappointing 2016 campaign in which he went 6-12 with a 4.82 ERA.
“You’d like to say you learn as you get older,” Girardi said. “You’re able to control your emotions and not try to do too much and do what you always do and make a pitch.”
Pineda, who seems to be focusing better, has been everything Masahiro Tanaka hasn’t been in 2017. The Yankees are currently in the process of trying to get Tanaka out of his rut. In his last two starts, he’s surrendered 14 earned runs on 16 hits in just 4.2 innings. This season, opponents are hitting .325 against his four-seam fastball, .304 against his slider and .244 against his splitter, according to FanGraphs. For his career, opponents are hitting .304 against his fourseam fastball, .206 against his slider and .180 against his splitter.
“As far as it being one of the worst slumps in my career, I probably have to agree with that,” Tanaka said through his translator before the game. “You have to grind it out. You can’t put your head down. Physically, there
are no problems at all. I feel fine.”
Pitching coach Larry Rothschild said he plans to go back to “square one” with Tanaka, who can opt out at season’s end. “It’s not just one thing,” Rothschild said. “He’s kind of gotten in between changing things. We need to get back to what he does really well, iron Tthe stuff out deliver-wise, and that’s about it.” he Yankees need to get more length out of their starters. They’ve now gone 12 straight games without getting seven innings out of a starting pitcher, dating back to May 8 at Cincinnati, when Tanaka went seven. From May 9-21, the Yankees’ rotation averaged between 4 2/3 and 5 innings per start, the lowest average in the major leagues over that span. Their rotation was considered a weakness heading into the 2017 campaign. And while it hadn’t been a weakness early on, it certainly has been a weakness of late.
And if that keeps up, they’re going to kill their bullpen, something they can’t afford to do.
“When I look at where we are, I think getting a little bit more consistent length out of our starters is probably the most important (problem we need to fix),” Girardi said. “Because our bullpen, at times, is fairly taxed. And for them to be successful, you have to keep them from being taxed.”