Pineda’s dominance lifts Yanks over Mets
Teixeira blasts two home runs; Ellsbury also goes deep
NEW YORK — When Brian McCann was asked about Michael Pineda’s performance, one word stood out. Dominant. Another popular word was outstanding, and that’s how Pineda’s 7 2/3-inning performance on a 46-degree night was described after the New York Yankees ended the New York Mets’ club-record-tying 11game winning streak Friday with a 6-1 victory.
“He’s dominant,” McCann said after catching 100 pitches from Pineda. “He was dominant last year, and when he takes that mound, he was very, very dominant.”
Pineda (3-0) held the hottest team in baseball to one run and five hits. He threw 78 of his pitches for strikes while getting seven strikeouts without a walk.
The right-hander likely would have completed eight innings for the second time in his career had he not given up a two-out double to former Yankee Curtis Granderson. But he exited to a standing ovation from Yankee fans after reaching the eighth for the fifth time in 45 career starts.
“He’s a good pitcher,” Yankees right fielder Carlos Beltran said. “Last year, the few starts I saw from him, he’s capable of special things on the mound. He’s got the stuff, and every pitch that he makes has movement.”
“When you throw 100 pitches and only 20 of them are balls, that pretty much tells you that he was making pitch after pitch,” Mets manager Terry Collins said. “He just moved the ball around and changed speeds, outstanding breaking ball tonight.”
Pineda retired 13 of the first 14 hitters he faced, threw firstpitch strikes to 24 hitters and did not reach a three-ball count until Granderson’s at-bat in the eighth. The win over the Mets came a year and a day after Pineda was ejected in Fenway Park for using pine tar, which led to a six-game suspension followed by a lengthy stint on the disabled list with a shoulder injury.
“He’s matured; he took a tough situation last year and figured out how to pitch in the cold,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “We’ve seen so much from Michael since he went through his injury; how many strikes he throws, the development of his changeup, his mechanics have been very sound. He holds runners, and he does a lot of things right.”
“He was great,” Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira added. “You could tell from the first inning that he had his good stuff, and it let us relax at the plate.”
While Pineda provided power on the mound, the Yankees won for the eighth time in 11 games by getting three home runs.
Teixeira hit two-run home runs in the first and third innings off Mets right-hander Jacob deGrom (2-2) for his 38th career multihomer game. Center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury added a solo home run in the third, and second baseman Stephen Drew lifted a sacrifice fly.
The combination of Pineda’s dominance and the Yankee power proved too much for the Mets, especially when deGrom had one of the worst starts of his brief career. DeGrom tied a career worst by allowing six runs (five on home runs) and eight hits in five innings, marking the fifth time in 26 career starts he failed to reach the sixth.
“He didn’t make the pitches he usually makes, and he got hurt for it,” Collins said.
The Mets had their fourth 11game winning streak stopped, their first one since June 1990. Their only run came on a sacrifice fly by Lucas Duda in the sixth.
The Yankees took a 2-0 lead with two outs in the first when Teixeira drove a 2-1 fastball over the rightfield wall for his sixth home run.
The Yankees scored four in the third on home runs by Ellsbury and Teixeira and a sacrifice fly by Drew.
Pineda retired the first eight hitters before allowing a double to left fielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis with two outs in the third.
The Mets threatened with one out in the fifth on a double by third baseman Eric Campbell and a single by shortstop Wilmer Flores, but Pineda preserved the shutout by striking out catcher Kevin Plawecki and retiring Nieuwenhuis on a soft grounder.