Yankees Pineda Suspended 10 Games For Pine Tar Incident
BOSTON (CBS) -- A little bit of pine tar has cost New York Yankees starting pitcher Michael Pineda 10 games.
Major League Baseball suspended the Yankees' hurler 10 games on Thursday after he was ejected in the second inning of a 5-1 loss to the Boston Red Sox Wednesday night for having pine tar on the right side of his neck.
From MLB:
New York Yankees pitcher Michael Pineda has been suspended for 10 games for possessing a foreign substance on his person during the bottom of the second inning of his Club's Wednesday, April 23rd game against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. Joe Garagiola, Jr., Senior Vice President of Standards and On-Field Operations for Major League Baseball, made the announcement.
Unless appealed, Pineda's suspension is scheduled to begin tonight, when the two Clubs continue their series in Boston. If appealed, the discipline issued to him will be held in abeyance until the process is complete.
In recent suspensions of pitchers for pine tar, Tampa Bay's Joel Peralta was penalized eight games in 2012, the Los Angeles Angels' Brendan Donnelly 10 days in 2005 and St. Louis' Julian Tavarez 10 days in 2004. The suspensions of Donnelly and Tavarez were cut to eight days after they appealed the suspension.
Wednesday night was the second time Pineda was seen with pin tar somewhere on his body while pitching against the Red Sox. A spot of pine tar was seen on his right arm in an April 10 start in Yankee Stadium, but the Red Sox did not call him out for the incident.
That was not the case on Wednesday night, when manager John Farrell asked plate umpire Gerry Davis to check the pitcher in the bottom of the second inning.
Pineda said he has trouble gripping the ball in cold weather games.
"I'll learn from this mistake," Pineda said after Wednesday's game. "It won't happen again."
MORE RED SOX COVERAGE FROM CBS BOSTON
