Bird’s bomb triggers breakout night in the Bronx
NEW YORK — While the rest of the Yankees were off to a flying start at home, Greg Bird was still grounded at the plate.
He finally joined in the fun on Sunday night.
Bird busted out of his slump with a long home run in the second inning to begin his perfect night in the batter’s box while Michael Pineda pitched New York past the St. Louis Cardinals 9-3 for its seventh straight victory.
“That’s the Bird I know,” teammate Aaron Judge said. “That’s what he did in spring training.”
Aaron Hicks also blasted a homer and Judge was robbed of one by a fan in the bleachers, forcing the young outfielder to settle for an RBI triple.
New York chased Adam Wainwright (0-3) in the fifth and finished a three-game sweep that left St. Louis at 3-9, theworstrecordintheNational League and the Cards’ poorest start since 1988.
“It’s an incredibly frustrating start to the season,” the 35-year-old Wainwright said after his first career outing against the Yankees. “I know Cardinal Nation is ready for me to get my act together, and I am, too.”
Pineda (2-1) permitted two runs over seven innings in a solid follow-up to his dominant outing last week.
On April 10, the right-hander retired his first 20 batters during New York’s home opener and struck out 11 over seven innings for an 8-1 victory against Tampa Bay.
Sunday’s strong encore was particularly encouraging to the Yankees, yearning for a steady season from a talented pitcher who has been maddeningly inconsistent throughout his tenure with the team.
“It’s important because you want him to keep going, and get some momentum,” manager Joe Girardi said . “He had a hard time doing that last year.”
Yadier Molina’s leadoff homer in the seventh trimmed New York’s lead to 4-2, but Pineda maintained his poise and retired the next three batters.
“After the second inning, I got more energy,” he said. “I’m working so hard to be consistent every five days.”
Austin Romine and Ronald Torreyes each had a two-run double against reliever Miguel Socolovich during a five-run eighth that made it 9-2.
The late outburst sealed New York’s sweep of an early interleague series between two of baseball’s most successful and storied franchises.
Chase Headley, who also reached safely every time up, singledtostartthesecond,and Judge hit a drive to deep rightcenter, where a fan reached out just next to the auxiliary scoreboard hoping to catch a home run.
The ball popped out of the man’s mitt and back into play, triggering a fan interference call by the umpires.
Following a replay review that lasted nearly three minutes, the ruling stood and Judge remained at third with an RBI triple — even though it appeared his shot would have easily cleared the fence if not for the eager fan.
“I think that was my first career triple,” Judge said. “So I don’t mind it.”