MLB: Yankees' Pineda ejected for having pine tar on neck; Red Sox win

The right-hander was thrown out in the second inning when plate umpire Gerry Davis found the substance on the right side of Pineda’s neck after Red Sox manager John Farrell asked him to check. Pineda walked from the mound without protest.

Both Pineda and Davis said it was pine tar.

“When it’s that obvious, something has got to be said,” Farrell explained after the game. 

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said Pineda and the organization were “embarrassed.”

Pineda (2-2) had nothing on the right side of his neck in a photo of him on the mound in the first inning, when four of the first six batters reached on hits. He said he put it on to get a better grip.

A photo taken in the second showed a shiny horizontal substance on his neck below his right ear. After Pineda struck out the first two batters and had a 1-2 count on Grady Sizemore, Farrell talked to Davis. The umpire went to the mound, looked at the ball then touched the substance on Pineda’s neck with his right index finger. Then he gestured with that same finger, indicating Pineda’s ejection.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi called it “an error in judgment.” 

“He had a hard time gripping the baseball. Unknown to us, he put it on and went out there,” Girardi said. 

Rule 8.02(b) says a pitcher shall not “have on his person, or in his possession, any foreign substance. For such infraction of this section the penalty shall be immediate ejection from the game. In addition, the pitcher shall be suspended automatically.”

John Lackey (3-2) allowed one run and seven hits in eight innings with 11 strikeouts and no walks. Koji Uehara struck out three in the ninth in a non-save situation.

Mike Napoli had three hits and Boston scored two runs in the first and two more in the third.