New York Yankees

Right-hander Michael Pineda has been an enigma for most of his first four seasons in the Bronx, but his last two starts have shown why the Yankees have stuck with him.

Pineda allowed three runs on eight hits with 17 strikeouts in 14 2⁄3 innings to defeat the Rays and St. Louis Cardinals. He retired the first 20 Tampa Bay batters before Evan Longoria’s double broke up his perfect game.

“Your hope is that he learns … that you have to make adjustments out there and you have to use all of your pitches and you

have to move the ball around,” manager Joe Girardi said. “If you do that, you’ve got a chance to be really successful.”

The first victory ended an 11start winless streak. He went 6-12 last season with a 4.82 ERA, better than just six of 74 qualifying pitchers. But he also struck out 207, sixth best in the AL, and posted an AL-best 10.61 strikeouts per nine innings.

Jacoby Ellsbury started as the cleanup hitter Friday for the first time in his 11-year career and stayed there through the weekend when he went 2-for-4 in each of the first two games. That means he has started in all nine batting spots in his career.

Ellsbury and Curtis Granderson (in 2012-13) are the only Yankees center fielders in the last 12 seasons to start a game batting cleanup.