NEW YORK (AP) - Tampa Bay’s Evan Longoria lined a double down the left-field line with two outs in the seventh inning, breaking up a perfect game bid by the Yankees’ Michael Pineda in New York’s home opener.
Pineda retired his first 20 batters Monday, starting 16 of them with strikes, before Longoria reached on a first-pitch hanging slider. Longoria tipped his helmet to Pineda after reaching second.
Pineda then fanned Brad Miller, his 11th strikeout of the afternoon.
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The 28-year-old right-hander was 6-12 with a 4.82 ERA last year, the 68th-highest ERA among 74 qualifying pitchers in the major leagues. He struck out a team-high 207 and led the AL with 10.6 strikeouts per nine innings.
New York took a 2-0 lead against Alex Cobb on Jacoby Ellsbury’s RBI double in the third and Aaron Judge’s home run in the fourth. Cobb beat Pineda in Florida last week.
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