Yankees' Pineda ejected for pine tar on neck: 'We are certainly embarrassed' says GM Cashman
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman was not impressed by the stunt pulled by his starting pitcher Michael Pineda on Wednesday night in Boston.
Brian Cashman: "This is not something that we are proud to be sitting in. We are certainly embarrassed. We as an org. are responsible"
— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) April 24, 2014
The right-hander was ejected in the second inning after Red Sox manager John Farrell brought to umpire Gerry Davis' attention that Pineda was using pine tar lathered on his neck.
Cashman, who believes his pitcher will be suspended, had no complaints about Farrell calling Pineda on using a banned substance.
Cashman said he would want Girardi to act same way as Farrell did.
— Michael Silverman (@MikeSilvermanBB) April 24, 2014
It was speculated that Pineda had pine tar on his hand during a previous start this season against Boston, but Farrell declined to challenge it, as the former pitching coach acknowledged that most pitchers do use a substance for extra grip. However, when Pineda attempted to challenge the Red Sox skipper a second time, Farrell was left with no choice.
Farrell: "There's a certain acceptance that it's used and discreetly used.... There's better ways to conceal it."
— Tim Britton (@TimBritton) April 24, 2014
An apologetic Pineda said following the game that he will not use pine tar again and that his intentions for using it were mainly for the safety of the Red Sox players.
Michael Pineda said he apologized to his teammates. Said he was having trouble controlling ball in 1st inning and didn't want to hit anyone.
— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) April 24, 2014