SPORTS SATURDAY, APRIL 12, 2014

Pineda wins with some substance, Yanks top Bosox

NEW YORK: Michael Pineda won while pitching surgery that sidelined him for two years. Throwing at Boston’s last nine batters - striking out five - and some noticeable substance on his hand, and Jacoby up to 95 mph, he allowed four hits in his first Phelps got seven outs for his first career save. Ellsbury hit an RBI single off old roommate Clay Yankees’ win, struck out seven and walked two. Buchholz was sharper than in his opening start Buchholz in his first game against the Red Sox as the Brian McCann ended an 0-for-14 slide with a run- against Milwaukee, giving up four runs - two earned New York Yankees beat Boston 4-1 Thursday night. scoring single that put the Yankees ahead during a - and seven hits in six innings with six strikeouts and Ellsbury drew all the pregame attention after two-run fourth in the first of 19 games between the no walks. switching sides in the offseason. But it was the dark rivals this season. Boston went 13-6 against New York last year, its brown, seemingly tacky substance on the lower Making just his third big league start, Dean Anna most wins against the Yankees since 1973. While the palm of Pineda’s pitching hand that quickly became homered as New York made it 4-0 in the fifth.After Red Sox won their third title in 10 years, New York the focus. spending nine years in the Red Sox organization and failed to make the playoffs for just the second time Close-up camera shots clearly showed Pineda (1- winning World Series titles in 2007 and last year, in 19 seasons. 1) pitching for the first four innings with something Ellsbury left for a $153 million, seven-year contract Ellsbury reached leading off the fifth when on his hand, and there was speculation it was pine with the Yankees. And his first game put him at the Jonathan Herrera appeared to look up while fielding tar to help him get a better grip on a chilly night. The plate against Buchholz (0-1), his roommate at Lowell his grounder to third and allowed the ball to pop out game was never stopped for an umpire to exam him, of the New York-Penn League in their first summer of his glove for an error. With Herrera moved and it was gone by the fifth. of professional ball. between second and first on a shift, Carlos Beltran Pineda said it was merely dirt, rubbed on his singled between the third baseman and second sweaty right hand in-between innings. He said he Grounded out baseman Dustin Pedroia, into right field. doesn’t use pine tar. Yankees manager Joe Girardi Ellsbury grounded out in the first inning, reached McCann lined a single past Mike Napoli about 2 said he didn’t see anything on Pineda’s hand. on an error and scored the game’s first run in the feet fair down the first-base line, driving in Ellsbury, “I really don’t have anything to say on the sub- fourth, singled sharply to left to drive in a run in the and Alfonso Soriano hit a double-play grounder to ject,” he said. Red Sox manager John Farrell said that fifth, and grounded out in the eighth. Daniel Nava shortstop that brought in a second run. he found out about the substance only after led off the seventh with a home run into the second Anna opened spring training wearing No. 93 after Pineda’s hand was cleaned up. deck in right, and Xander Bogaerts’ single chased six minor league seasons with San Diego, which “It was not there by the time I was aware of it,” he Pineda. traded him to New York in November, started at sec- said. Pineda (1-1), making his first Yankee Stadium With David Robertson on the disabled list and ond base as Brian Roberts got his first day off. Now start 27 months after he was acquired from Seattle, Shawn Kelley and Adam Warren unavailable after wearing a more respectable No. 45, Anna homered took a two-hit shutout into the seventh and pitching Wednesday, the Yankees scrambled their to right on an 87 mph splitter, his first in the big appeared completely recovered from the shoulder bullpen. Cesar Cabral and David Phelps retired leagues after hitting 40 in the minors. —AP Highlanders bounce back to down Bulls

DUNEDIN: The Otago Highlanders recovered from a shaky start to beat the Northern Bulls 27-20 in Dunedin yester- day as the South African team’s poor form on the road continued. The Bulls, coming off a loss to the Wellington Hurricanes last week, led 13- 3 after half an hour but then conceded three straight tries, effectively putting SAN FRANCISCO: Buster Posey No 28 of the San the game out of reach. Francisco Giants bunts for an RBI single against the It ended three tries to two, taking the Arizona Diamondbacks in the bottom of the third Bulls’ dismal record against the inning at AT&T Park on April 10, in San Francisco, Highlanders on New Zealand soil to one California. —AFP win in nine attempts, with their only success back in 2007. Diamondbacks beat They had chances but let themselves down with a string of basic handling Giants in 10 innings errors, neutralising their most potent attacking weapon, the lineout drive, SAN FRANCISCO: Tony Campana hit an RBI single with two which the Highlanders repelled eight outs in the 10th inning to lead the Arizona Diamondbacks to consecutive times late in the game. their first back-to-back wins of the season with a 6-5 victory Highlanders skipper said over the San Francisco Giants on Thursday night. he was pleased with the “ticker” his Cliff Pennington had two RBIs and scored the winning run players showed to string together their for the Diamondbacks, who won the final two games of the first back-to-back wins of the season. series. Miguel Montero also drove in two runs for Arizona. “We really defended our line well,” he DUNEDIN: Jacques-Louis Potgieter (C) of the Bulls is tackled by Ben Michael Morse hit a two-run double that gave the Giants the said. “We’ve got a bit of belief, I’m really Smith captain of the Highlanders and Malakai Fekitoa of the lead, but an error by third baseman Pablo Sandoval allowed proud of the boys.” Highlanders in support during the Super 15 match the tying run to score in the eighth and San Francisco fell in The Bulls made a strong start and between the Highlanders vs RSA Bulls at Forsyth Bar Stadium in extra innings to lose their first home series since last August dominated possession, led by centre Jan Dunedin yesterday. —AFP against Boston. Pennington hit a one-out single off Yusmeiro Serfontein with his powerful line breaks. Petit (0-1) in the 10th and then stole second base on a 2-2 Prop Kruger Werner, celebrating his leaping players to Shaun Treeby. His utes later to score his own try after a pitch to Campana with two outs. Campana then blooped a 100th match, was also pass found Lima Sopoaga, who forced break from Sopoaga set him up, taking single just over the outstretched glove of second baseman instrumental as the Bulls built pressure his way across the line before convert- the lead to 27-13. Brandon Hicks to score the go-ahead run. J.J. Putz (1-0) through the forwards. They had to settle ing his own try. The Bulls were relentless in attack pitched a scoreless ninth for the win and Addison Reed got for two penalties as the Highlanders’ Sopoaga then potted a penalty to during the final stages but were frustrat- three outs for his third save in as many chances. defence held firm until midway through make it 13-all at half time. The ed by a combination of courageous The Diamondbacks failed to score in the seventh after the first half, when Piet van Zyl’s quick Highlanders maintained momentum Highlanders defence and their own mis- loading the bases with no outs, but got the tying run an chip from the base of a scrum set up after the break when Malakai Fekitoa takes. inning later on Sandoval’s bad throw. winger Bjorn Basson for a try between sidestepped three defenders and They scored a consolation try, sal- With runners on first and second and two outs in the eighth, the posts. offloaded to Gareth Evans for a five- vaging a bonus point in the process, in Campana hit a slow grounder to Sandoval, who rushed his throw The Highlanders hit back against the pointer. Fekitoa, 21, an off-season sign- the last minute when their lineout drive to first. The ball sailed over Brandon Belt’s head allowing Gerardo run of play with a cleverly worked line- ing from the Auckland , left the finally clicked and Marcel van der Merwe Parra to score the tying run from second. —AP out where the ball was sent beyond the Bulls defence flat-footed again 10 min- crossed the line. —AFP