Those expectations of Michael Pineda blossoming into a No. 1 starter are on hold for now.
Instead, it’s more realistic for the Yankees to hope they get more work from the right-hander like they did on Saturday.
In one of his biggest outings of the season, Pineda kept the Mets off the scoreboard, but he also wasn’t able to get out of the sixth inning of the Yankees’ 5-0 win over the Mets at Citi Field.
It helped that Pineda took the mound with a three-run lead after Carlos Beltran’s homer in the top of the first, just three batters into the game.
“Three runs in the first inning, I feel confident,” Pineda said. “This is my day.”
But for as effective as Pineda was, thanks to him having a good day with his inconsistent slider, the Yankees still were forced to heavily rely on the bullpen to throw the final 3 ²/₃ innings.
Manager Joe Girardi got the outs he needed from the pen, but in so doing, he had to use the heavily-taxed Justin Wilson, Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller.
Ideally, he would have gotten more innings out of Pineda, who left after throwing just 86 pitches because Girardi didn’t want him to face the lefty-hitting Daniel Murphy with two runners on and only one out.
It was a somewhat disappointing end for Pineda, who gave up a single to pinch-hitter Kelly Johnson to start the sixth and then another hit to Curtis Granderson. That brought up Yoenis Cespedes, whose bat has suddenly gone cold.
Pineda kept it that way, striking Cespedes out on three pitches. The final pitch of the at-bat, as well as Pineda’s outing, was a 95-mph heater.
Still, Girardi didn’t want to take any chances with Murphy.
“You want to stay on the mound,” Pineda said. “You never want to be taken out. I love pitching. I was a little sad.”
But he had no qualms with Girardi’s decision.
“This is the game,” Pineda said. “Joe has control over the situation.”
Nevertheless, he admitted to being caught off guard when Girardi took him out of the game in favor of southpaw Justin Wilson.
“I was a little surprised,” Pineda said.
Despite the lack of length, the performance was still a vast improvement over Pineda’s recent games.
In his previous six outings, he had a 6.21 ERA, surrendering four or more runs in all but one of them. And most recently, Pineda coughed up three homers to the Blue Jays in a loss to Toronto in the Bronx.
This time, Pineda kept the Mets in the park and at least gave the Yankees a chance to get to the bullpen.