TAMPA, Fla. — The biggest buzz didn’t come from a third straight positive outing by Michael Pineda in the New York Yankees’ 8-1 victory Tuesday over the Boston Red Sox.
That honor went to a swarm of bees that took over left field and delayed the game for seven minutes before the bottom of the third.
“Just a strange little delay of game,” said Boston left fielder Mike Carp, who walked toward the infield to get away from the bees. “They kept coming towards me and I wanted no part of that. I didn’t want a couple thousand bees on me.”
Carp clearly could hear the bees buzzing.
“It was hard to see,” Carp said. “I guess they were honey bees, so it wasn’t anything that was too dangerous, but nevertheless, it’s still shocking to see a swarm of bees flying around you in the middle of a baseball game.”
Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira went from the dugout to the clubhouse and returned with a couple jars of honey.
“What I thought is, if you just do a line of honey out to the parking lot, the bees would maybe follow it and then leave us alone,” Teixeira said with a smile.
Umpires called out the grounds crew, which received a loud cheer after chasing the bees away with bug spray.
“I’d never seen that before. I’d never had that,” longtime umpire Tom Hallion said. “I asked the grounds crew, ‘What do we do?” They told me that kind of honeybee wasn’t indigenous to the area. They didn’t know why they were there. They sprayed out there, and we were OK.”
The first batter after the stoppage, New York’s Francisco Cervelli, tripled to deep left.
“Right back into it,” Carp said.
Pineda, who missed the past two seasons while recovering from right shoulder surgery, gave up four hits and struck out five in 4 1-3 shutout innings.
Yankees center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury didn’t play against his former team, missing his third straight game due to right calf tightness. Ellsbury agreed in December to a $153 million, seven-year contract.
Ichiro Suzuki played center in Ellsbury’s absence and had an RBI single during a four-run second against Felix Doubront. Teixeira added a two-run single.
Alfonso Soriano hit a three-run homer for the Yankees.
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