Joel Pineiro was a pitcher of few words the past week and a half as he dealt with a demotion to Class AAA Tacoma. The biggest statement he made was to dye his hair an illuminating blonde over the weekend, and then stand up to the cackles of his Seattle Mariners teammates.
Tonight, they all hope that blonde is beautiful.
Pineiro returns to the mound against the Baltimore Orioles for his first start since May 13, when the Red Sox popped him for six runs and eight hits in just 32/3 innings.
It left Pineiro with a 2-3 record, a 6.52 earned run average and, the next day, a move to the Tacoma roster.
On the surface, it looked like a great fall for the pitcher who would have been the Mariners’ opening-night starter before a shoulder problem slowed him during spring training.
In reality, the Mariners believed Pineiro needed work on his throwing mechanics and the only way to do it was to pull him from the starting rotation. They optioned him to Tacoma, although he never truly reported there because he did all his work before the games at Safeco Field.
Pineiro clearly wasn’t pleased and his reaction to reporters was curt.
“Talk to them about it,” he said, referring to manager Mike Hargrove, pitching coach Bryan Price and anyone else connected with the decision.
The bottom line, Hargrove said, is that Pineiro worked hard to fix his flaws and he believes he is ready to start tonight.
“There was a lot of good work done and Joel handled it with a good positive attitude,” Hargrove said. “It wasn’t necessarily something he wanted to do, and I understand that. But I do appreciate the way he went about his business.”
The Mariners pulled right-hander Julio Mateo from the bullpen to make a spot start last Tuesday and called up right-hander Jorge Campillo from Tacoma to maintain depth in their relief corps. Campillo is expected to return to Tacoma today when Pineiro is called back up.
“In the very least, he was going to miss one start anyway,” Hargrove said. “He wasn’t going to pitch, and by doing it this way allowed us the opportunity to bring in Campillo and stay at full strength.”
One theory is that Pineiro never retained his strength after missing much of spring training. He suffered a strained shoulder in his first exhibition game in early March and spent the month recovering.
Pineiro also missed the final two months last season because of a strained elbow, an injury that seems to have healed.
His current problems are related solely to throwing mechanics and not health, Hargrove said.
Pineiro began this season on a minor league rehab assignment, then joined the Mariners for his first start on April 15 against the White Sox. In his sixth start, on May 13 against the Red Sox, Pineiro battled poor control – throwing 32 balls among his 64 pitches – and struggled to throw his fastball better than 89 mph. He usually throws that pitch in the low 90s.
Hargrove expects better results tonight.
“Do I expect him to throw the ball 98 mph? No,” Hargrove said. “But I want to see the velocity he normally pitches at and I want to see him change speeds. I’m looking for him to throw strikes and be firm with his stuff and be consistent with his command.”
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