Yankees need Michael Pineda back in rotation as soon as possible

BALTIMORE — All night, the sounds off the bats told you this was no contest, as the Orioles, leading the majors in home runs, went to mashing, while the Yankees needed a lucky play on the basepaths to fuel their biggest rally.

The result was an 11-3 whipping, and the more you see of this matchup, the more it feels like the Yankees are playing for a wild-card berth.

It’s not just that the Orioles lead the season series 7-3, but they’ve outscored the Yankees 55-28 in the 10 games, which speaks mostly to the difference in power between the two teams.

 

The O’s have hit 150 home runs this season to 107 for the Yankees, and if you needed a visual to put that in perspective, well, Chris Davis, Nelson Cruz, and Jonathan Schoop provided it with some very loud long balls on Monday night.

So the Yankees are seven games behind the O’s in the AL East, and realistically their only hope for a postseason berth is probably that second wild card in the American League and the do-or-die playoff game that comes with it.

Which brings us to Michael Pineda.

Joe Girardi all but admitted on Monday that circumstances dictated the Yankees’ decision to start Pineda here on Wednesday. That is, if the ballclub weren’t in such a desperate situation, trying to hang on with a patchwork starting rotation, Pineda surely would have made at least one more minor-league rehab start.

As it is, he’ll be limited to about 85 pitches, and it’s not like the Yankees to push a pitcher who isn’t ready to go deeper than that in a game. Obviously, however, they’re willing to gamble that Pineda can give them five, possibly six strong innings.

“I feel good about him taking the mound but I will be cautious with his pitch count," was the way Girardi put it.

Beyond what he can do on Wednesday, Pineda matters because if all goes well, his stuff potentially makes him the Yankees’ most dominant starter.

And let’s say the Yankees wind up earning that second wild-card berth, setting up a one-game playoff that at the moment would be in Anaheim against the Angels.

Who’s pitching that game, anyway?

Brandon McCarthy? He has been great in six starts as a Yankee, and if he pitches this way for another six weeks, surely he’d get the ball. But even with his re-born cutter complementing his sinker nicely, that may be a lot to ask.