April 23, 2014

G22: Red Sox 5, Yankees 1

Yankees - 000 001 000 - 1  8  3
Red Sox - 202 000 01x - 5 10  0


Michael Pineda was ejected with two outs in the bottom of second inning for having a smear of pine tar on the right side of his neck. With Grady Sizemore at the plate, Red Sox manager John Farrell came out of the dugout and spoke with home plate umpire Gerry Davis.

Davis walked out to the mound and with the Yankee infielders and fellow umpires gathered around, he inspected Pineda's glove. Then he asked Pineda, who had the tar side of his neck turned away from the umpire, to turn all the way around. Davis saw the stain, touched it, and promptly ejected Pineda. Pineda (1.2-4-2-0-0, 40) left without saying a word. He will likely be suspended for 8-10 games.


Boston had already scored twice against Pineda in the first inning. They tacked on two more runs in the third off David Phelps, who threw 43 pitches in the frame. That was more than enough runs for John Lackey (8-7-1-0-11, 111), who was superb. Koji Uehara breezed through the ninth.

Grady Sizemore began the first inning with a stand-up triple into the right field corner. Dustin Pedroia singled him home. After David Ortiz flied to center, Mike Napoli (3-for-4) singled. With two outs, A.J. Pierzynski was given credit for an infield single on a grounder that Derek Jeter muffed. (Jeter made three probable errors during the game, but was charged with only one.)

ESPN cameras showed that Pineda did not have the pine tar on his neck during the first inning. But it was there in the second. It was hard to miss. (Pineda was the subject of some post-game controversy on April 10 when he pitched against the Red Sox with pine tar on the palm of his right hand. For some reason, the Red Sox did not lodge a protest during that game.)

With Phelps on the mound in the third, Pedroia reached on Jeter's throwing error to first. Ortiz singled and Napoli doubled Pedroia home. A couple of walks loaded the bases and Napoli scored on a wild pitch. Boston left the bases loaded in that inning, and stranded seven men through the first four innings.
Example
Michael Pineda / John Lackey
Sizemore, RF
Pedroia, 2B
Ortiz, DH
Napoli, 1B
Carp, LF
Pierzynski, C
Bogaerts, SS,
Holt, 3B
Bradley, CF
The Red Sox sent Daniel Nava to Pawtucket today to make room for an emergency reliever, Alex Wilson. Shane Victorino will likely be activated on Thursday, meaning Wilson will probably be with the Red Sox for one day.