THE GREATEST OF TEASE
Pineda flirts with perfection as Yanks rout Rays in home opener
Joe Girardi was a Yankee when David Wells and David Cone pitched perfect games at Yankee Stadium, so the manager understood what was unfolding in front of him Monday afternoon.
Through six innings, the wildly inconsistent Michael Pineda had a perfect game going and making the Rays’ hitters, the same bunch that abused him last week in St. Petersburg, Fla., look ill with a high-octane fastball, tantalizing changeups and challenging sliders.
“Your thinking is that it’s going to be another special day at the Stadium,’’ Girardi said.
Pineda opened the seventh by striking out Corey Dickerson and getting Kevin Kiermaier on a stress-free fly to left field as the packed Stadium reacted to every pitch and out as if Mariano Rivera was closing a World Series game.
“I thought he had a shot. His stuff was really good and his pitch count was down,’’ Girardi said of Pineda, who didn’t get out of the fourth inning Wednesday against the Rays. “I started thinking ahead; if he got through the eighth and had a hundred pitches how far do I let him go. I would have sent him back out.’’
When Evan Longoria drove the first pitch to him inside the left-field foul line the perfection bid died, but it didn’t soil Pineda’s scintillating performance in what turned into an 8-1 Yankees victory in front of a sold-out crowd of 46,955.
Pineda, who has a reputation of not finishing off hitters or innings, was nursing a 2-0 lead with Longoria on second. This time he made Brad Miller his 11th and final strikeout. As Pineda walked to the dugout a loud ovation filled the ballpark.
After Logan Morrison homered with one out in the eighth and Derek Norris hit a bullet that third baseman Chase Headley snared with a diving stop, Girardi called for Tyler Clippard to guard the 3-0 advantage Headley’s homer in the seventh provided.
This time the walk to the first-base dugout evoked even louder cheers for a pitcher who hadn’t won since Aug. 5 and had made 11 starts without a victory.
“We are here to win the game,’’ said Pineda, who gave up a run, two hits, fanned 11 and didn’t issue a walk in 7 2/3 innings to improve to 1-1. “It was a good moment for me.’’
There were other highlights but none could dislodge Pineda from the top of the list.
Starlin Castro, Aaron Judge and Headley homered. Clippard replaced Pineda to get the final out of the eighth.
Catcher Austin Romine said Pineda’s chances of perfection would have risen if he retired Longoria, who was hitting .162 (6for-37) against Pineda.
“If you get past their best hitter, you’ve got a good shot at it. A lot of people are thinking that. I was thinking that,’’ Romine said. “Longo, you don’t want him to beat you, but he’s a great hitter.’’
Sitting in the third-base dugout Rays manager Kevin Cash had a terrific view of Pineda’s dominance.
“He threw some sliders typical down and away to get some to chase but he also threw some that [were] a front-door breaking ball,’’ Cash said. “And he mixed the changeup in a lot more than we saw in the first outing.”
Even though Cash’s club trailed, 2-0, when Longoria doubled there was a sense of relief among the Rays.
“Oh yeah, nobody wants to get no-hit,’’ Cash said.
Through the first week of the season the Yankees’ rotation was the weakest link. Then CC Sabathia pitched well Sunday and Pineda delivered a gem Monday.
Maybe that instills confidence to complement the above-average stuff and finally turns Pineda into a reliable front-of-the-rotation pitcher.
Or the ups and downs that have defined him remain in play and Monday was the latest episode of the “Big Tease.’’