NEW YORK — Yankees pitcher Michael Pineda was excellent against the Red Sox on Thursday at Yankee Stadium. But did the young right-hander bend the rules?
Pineda appeared to have a foreign substance on the palm of his throwing hand. It looked a lot like pine tar — which would be illegal — and it set off a social media firestorm throughout Pineda’s start.
Pineda, who gave up just one run over six innings while earning the victory Thursday, said after the game the substance on his hand was just “dirt.” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said he never saw anything on Pineda’s hand and thus didn’t examine the pitcher.
The Red Sox also downplayed the incident, with several players saying they didn’t notice anything suspicious and that the substance likely wouldn’t have made a huge difference anyway. Red Sox manager John Farrell said he was made aware of the substance in the fourth inning and that he didn’t say anything to the umpires because Pineda’s hand was clean by the fifth inning.
Crew chief Brian O’Nora said he couldn’t comment on the controversy because the Red Sox didn’t bring it to the umpires’ attention.
Check out Pineda’s hand in the photos below. Just dirt or something more?
[tweet https://twitter.com/PeteAbe/status/454412773422661632 align=’center’]
[tweet https://twitter.com/nypostsports/status/454449852592951296 align=’center’]
Thumbnail photo via Twitter/@PeteAbe
