New York Yankees pitcher Michael Pineda is accused of using pine tar during Thursday's win over the Boston Red Sox. While nobody seemed particularly outraged at the incident, Pineda denied the allegation and said it was just dirt on his hand.
Pineda (1-1, 1.50 ERA) allowed only four hits while striking out seven Red Sox batters in the Yankees' 4-1 win.
During the fourth inning, though, it came to the attention of Red Sox manager John Farrell that Pineda had some type of tar-like substance on the palm of his right hand. It appeared to be pine tar, according to ESPN.
Farrell said when Pineda took the mound in the fifth inning the substance appeared to be wiped clean.
"Again, a foreign substance is illegal, but by the time we became aware of it, it was gone," Farrell told reporters after the game, via ESPN. "... Based on where I was told it was located, it looked like the palm of his right hand was clean. That was the extent of it."
Because the substance no longer appeared to be on Pineda's hand, Farrell didn't mention it to the umpires.
Pineda denied the allegations and insisted it was dirt on the palm of his right hand.
"I don't use pine tar," he said. "It's dirt. I'm sweating on my hand too much in between innings."
Perhaps most surprising of all was the lack of indignation from other players. Red Sox pitcher Clay Buchholz was among those who considered the substance to be a nonissue.
"No, especially on cold windy nights, it's tough to get a grip on the baseball," he said. "I had that instance last year in Toronto, people said I had stuff all over my body you can use -- rosin, water, the whole sunscreen stuff, whatever.
"I'd rather have a grip on the baseball and semi-know where it's going [than] have no grip and get somebody hurt."
