Michael Pineda, a pitcher for the New York Yankees, has been handed down a 10-game suspension for using pine tar during Wednesday night’s game against the Boston Red Sox.

Pineda Suspended For Using Pine Tar

It was brought to the attention of the officials in the second inning after Pineda had helped to earn the Yankees two outs that he had pine tar on his neck, which he was touching to get a better grip on the ball on the cold night in Boston’s Fenway Park. He was subsequently ejected form the game.

In the end, Major League Baseball decided to suspend Pineda for 19 games for “possessing a foreign substance.” Pineda will still get paid and will only miss one start, since his next turn in the rotation happens to fall next Monday on the Yankee’s off day.

Cashman & Girardi On Pineda Suspension

Yankee’s GM Brian Cashman feels as though the punishment given to Pineda is fair. Furthermore, he’s expressed his confidence that Pineda won’t be making the same mistake again.

“It’s appropriate and expected,” Cashman said of the penalty, reported the New York Daily News. “He made a mistake. When you make a mistake, you own up to it and you turn the page. I have full confidence he’ll do that.”

Joe Girardi, the Yankee’s manager, is eager to put Pineda’s suspension behind the team so that they can all focus on the games ahead.

“We’re going to move on,” Girardi said before Thursday’s game against the Sox. “It’s yesterday’s story. We have a game to play and it’s obviously a big game. Both teams are trying to take a series here, it’s within the division, then we go home and we’ve got three against the Angels who are playing well, so it’s important that we move on, because the game of baseball does not stop. It’s an everyday sport, not a weekly sport.”

As for Pineda, he’s apologized and expressed his regret for breaking the rules of the sport and for negatively impacting his team. Like Cashman, he says that the experience will serve as a learning lesson.

“I feel so bad,” Pineda said, reported the News. “I apologized to the teammates and everybody. I know I make a mistake. Now I learn from the mistake and put everything in the past now. Now I don’t want to use it anymore. I don’t want to make a mistake anymore. I learn from this mistake. It happened, I don’t want it to happen again.”

During his two years with the Yankees, Pineda hasn’t always been the most reliable player and teammate. For his first camp with the team, he showed up out of shape and subsequently blew out his shoulder. He’s also been arrested on DUI charges.

– Chelsea Regan