Michael Pineda Shines in Rivalry Debut; Phelps Stellar in Save, Anna Goes Yard

 

GAME 10 : In his second start of the 2014 season, right-hander Michael Pineda was dominant, throwing first pitch strikes and scattering 4 hits over 6+ innings, striking out 7 and allowing 2 walks. His first and only mistake pitch of the night came in the 7th, hanging one to Daniel Nava, who deposited it in the right centerfield seats. Pineda was lifted after Boston CF Andrew Bogaerts followed with a single to center, giving way to newly arrived lefty Cesar Cabral, who K’d pinch-hitter Ryan Roberts. Manager Joe Girardi then turned to David Phelps, who was lights out, striking out 3 in retiring every batter faced over 2 1/3 innings, closing it out for his first major league save.
Boston starter Clay Buchholz‘s crisp breaking ball helped him match Pineda with zeros on the board through the first three, until the Yanks broke through in the bottom of the 4th. Catcher Brian McCann ended an 0-14 skid by rocketing a single into the right field corner, scoring Jacoby Ellsbury, and sending Carlos Beltran to third — who scored on Alfonso Soriano‘s double-play ground ball, 2-0 Yanks.
In the 5th, Dean Anna, starting for Brian Roberts at second, scorched a no-doubter to the seats in right-center for his first major league home run. John Sterling‘s call: “Anna is on the Dean’s List!”. After one out and a Derek Jeter ground-rule double to right-center, Ellsbury shot a single into right, scoring Jeter, but getting nailed at second on the back end, after the throw to the plate was cut off. Here’s video of the play. It was now 4-0 Yanks.
After Nava’s blast in the 7th, and Phelps’ ensuing shutdown of Beantown batters, the outcome was a 4-1 victory for the Yanks, evening their record at 5-5.
MEMORY LANE : On April 10th, 1998, the Yankees draw the largest regular-season crowd ever at the new Yankee Stadium as 56,717 attend the home opener against the Oakland Athletics. Then the Yanks crush the club scoring mark by winning the 17-13 slugfest… Also on this date in 1982, Yankees traded Paul Boris, Ron Davis and Greg Gagne to the Minnesota Twins for Roy Smalley. Check out Bronx Pinstripes for a recent interview with Smalley.  (Sources: todayinbaseballhistory.com, and baseball reference.com, respectively.)
ROUND-UP : Here’s the box score, and recaps from Bryan Hoch (mlb.com) and Scott Lauber (The Boston Herald). Next up: CC Sabathia (1-1) takes the mound against John Lester (0-2) tomorrow night in game 2 of the 4 game set, 7:00pm EST/4:00pm PT.