NEW YORK -- It was a chilly, damp afternoon at Yankee Stadium; the kind of atmosphere most baseball players dread -- especially on getaway day.
Not Michael Pineda. He couldn’t wait to get on the field Sunday, when he finally had the opportunity to face his former team for the first time since leaving the Bronx after the 2017 season.
Pitching the rubber match of the three-game weekend set, Pineda had gotten all of the pleasantries out of the way on Friday and Saturday, catching up with former teammates and coaches while reacquainting himself with the ballpark he called home for four years. Sunday, on the other hand, was all about his performance.
“Today is a big day for me,” said Pineda, who was 0-2 with a 9.64 ERA in his previous three starts.
The right-hander showed signs of improvement, but they weren’t enough to get him back into the win column. Pineda allowed four runs (three earned) on six hits and three walks in five innings, striking out eight in a rain-shortened, 4-1 Yankees win. The game was called in the bottom of the eighth inning due to weather conditions in New York.
Pineda spent parts of four seasons with the Yankees after being traded from Seattle in January 2014, though his tenure in New York was marred by injuries. He went 31-31 with a 4.16 ERA in 89 starts for the Yanks, but his time in the Bronx came to an end after he suffered a season-ending elbow injury in July 2017 that required Tommy John surgery.
The hulking right-hander -- affectionately known by his friends and teammates as “Big Mike” -- signed a two-year deal with the Twins before the 2018 season, rehabbing his elbow last year before making his return to the hill on March 31.
From the moment Pineda left the visiting bullpen following his warmup, it was evident to those around him that this wasn’t just another game for the 30-year-old hurler.
“You could definitely tell walking in with him from the bullpen that he was excited, ready to go,” catcher Jason Castro said. “But it didn’t really have much effect from a stuff standpoint.”
“I felt excited, but I tried to control my emotions and focus on my game,” Pineda said. “Make good pitches.”
Castro thought Pineda “harnessed [the emotions] well,” keeping himself in check on the mound. He struck out three Yankees around a Gary Sanchez single in the first inning.
“He was very excited for this start,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “He was waiting to come up here. I'm glad he was able to pitch up here, because I know it meant a lot to him.”
The second inning was a little more challenging for Pineda, who gave up a leadoff single to Gleyber Torres. Brett Gardner, who played behind Pineda during his entire time in New York, reminded his former teammate how difficult an out he can be.
“He’s a tough out; he’s always been that way his whole career,” Castro said. “He’s a guy that you really have to be careful with when you’re pitching to him.”
Pineda threw everything but the kitchen sink at Gardner, who fouled off four straight 1-2 pitches before drawing a 10-pitch walk.
“I threw him all three of my pitches and I tried to get him out, but he gave me foul tips for everything,” Pineda said.
A one-out walk of Cameron Maybin loaded the bases, but Pineda nearly escaped without damage, fanning Mike Tauchman for the second out. DJ LeMahieu hit a ball up the middle that Jorge Polanco fielded; he did a 360-degree spin and tried to feed to first, but the throw sailed wide. Torres scored on the infield hit, while Gardner came in from second base on the throwing error, giving the Yankees a 2-0 lead.
The Twins cut the lead in half with a run against Domingo German in the fourth, as Marwin Gonzalez collected his 300th career RBI. But Pineda made his one regrettable pitch of the day in the bottom of the inning, firing a 3-2 fastball over the heart of the plate against Tauchman.
Tauchman launched it into the seats for a two-run homer, stretching the lead to 4-1.
“It was a 3-2 count, so I had to throw a fastball down the middle,” Pineda said. “I don’t want to get a walk.”
“He made a pitch that he probably didn't want to make, and it was hit in the seats,” Baldelli said. “That's something that we want to probably avoid, but again, I thought he battled, even though he maybe didn't have his absolute best stuff.”
Although Pineda didn’t have the type of game he had been hoping for against his old friends, Sunday was definitely a step in the right direction for him. He got 18 swings-and-misses among his 95 pitches, and after giving up 15 earned runs in 14 innings over his previous three starts, Sunday’s line was markedly better.
“I just try to keep my head up and continue working," Pineda said. “Today, I felt better on the mound. My pitches were working a little bit better and I had a lot of positives.”
“Obviously it was tough with the weather and the wind, but it’s encouraging to see that out of him,” Castro said. “A bunch of strikeouts; I know he wanted a couple pitches back, but definitely trending in the right direction.”