New York Yankees pitcher Michael Pineda could face a spell on the sidelines after getting caught using a foreign substance during their 5-1 loss to the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday night.
Pineda was tossed in the second inning of the match after Red Sox manager John Farrell asked plate umpire to check a shiny portion on the right side of Pineda's neck, which was confirmed as pine tar.
Farrell said that their awareness was heightened when they saw a shiny blotch on Pineda's neck, considering the fact that the right hander allegedly used the banned substance in the Yankees' 4-1 win over the Red Sox earlier this month at the Yankee Stadium.
"I fully respect that on a cold night you're trying to get a grip, but when it's that obvious something has got to be said," Farrell said via ESPN. "Our awareness was heightened, given what we had seen in the past."
After the match, Pineda admitted to using pine tar, but the 25-year-old pitcher denied that he tried to cheat, saying that he just tried to make sure that he won't hit anyone with an errant pitch.
"It was a really cold night, and in the first inning I [couldn't] feel the ball," Pineda said. "I don't want to like, hit anybody, so I decided to use it."
With the infraction, Pineda is expected to be suspended by the league. In 2012, Tampa Bay's Joel Peralta was handed an eight-game suspension for the same infraction. Brendan Donnelly was suspended for 10 days in 2005, while Julian Tavarez was also handed a 10-day suspension in 2010.
The impending suspension of Pineda will deepen the Yankees' pitching woes after Ivan Nova went down with an elbow injury earlier this week, forcing manager Joe Girardi to insert Vidal Nuno into the rotation.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said that Pineda should be held responsible for his action, but he also admitted that the organization was also embarrassed because of the incident.
"I think we're all embarrassed," Cashman said. "We as a group are embarrassed that this has taken place. I think Michael is embarrassed. It's just obviously a bad situation, and it clearly forced the opponents' hand to do something that I'm sure they didn't want to do but they had no choice but to do."
