New York Yankees Win Home Opener Behind Dominant Michael Pineda

The New York Yankees opened Yankee Stadium in style, defeating the Tampa Bay Rays behind a dominant performance from Michael Pineda.

The New York Yankees opened Yankee Stadium for business this afternoon against the Tampa Bay Rays. The two teams faced off last week for Opening Day at Tropicana Field. The Rays beat the Yankees that afternoon and took the series 2-1. The Yankees got some retribution today behind Michael Pineda.

Pineda is as frustrating a pitcher as there is in the majors. He has the stuff to be one of the best in baseball but has struggled to put it together. Pineda puts together one strong start and follows it with a dud, or even implodes one inning. We saw that in his first start of the season against the Rays last week as he struggled. This afternoon, great Pineda was on display.

Pineda was dominant all afternoon against Tampa Bay. He had three pitches working today and used them all to perfection. He worked in his changeup more with his devastating slider and fastball and it was working. He and Austin Romine were on the same page and he mowed down Rays hitter after Rays hitter.

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Pineda carried a perfect game into the seventh inning. With two outs, Evan Longoria roped a double into left field on a first pitch, flat slider. Pineda would recover quickly, as he struck out Brad Miller to end the seventh inning.

Pineda would come back out for the eighth inning and got Steven Souza Jr. to ground out to begin the inning. But then Logan Morrison hit a home run, only the second hit of the game allowed and first run. Another hard hit ball would follow, but it was snagged at third base on a nice play by Chase Headley and scoop by Chris Carter at first base.

That would end Pineda’s afternoon. His final pitching line was 7.2 innings, two hits and one run allowed to go along with 11 strikeouts.

Alex Cobb opposed Pineda this afternoon and had a good game in his own right. He was let down a bit by his fielding. The first Yankees run came in the third inning off a Jacoby Ellsbury double. Brett Gardner got on base after reaching on a strikeout and Ellsbury knocked him in.

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The Yankees wasted no time scoring again. Aaron Judge would hit a home run for the second consecutive game, depositing one deep into left field for a 2-0 lead. The Yankees would get another long ball in the seventh inning, as Headley used the short porch in right field to his advantage, hitting a home run into the first row.

Things fell apart for the Rays in the eighth inning. An error by Miller at second base put Gardner on base when he shouldn’t have been again. He would steal second and third base and later score on a Matt Holliday double. Cobb was lifted from the game after that, and the Yankees tacked on three more runs with Austin Pruitt in the game, pushing the score to 8-1, which was how things ended.

Cobb finished the game with 7.1 innings, six hits and one walk allowed resulting in five runs scored, four of which were earned. He added seven strikeouts as well.

The Yankees took advantage of the mistakes the Rays made and it resulted in a nice victory on Opening Day at Yankee Stadium. There is an off day tomorrow before the Yankees and Rays get back at it on Wednesday.

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Jordan Montgomery will make his major league debut for the Yankees and be opposed by Blake Snell of the Rays. It will be another afternoon game, as things will get started at 1:05 PM ET.