The Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Michael Pineda has received a suspension from Major League Baseball after testing positive for a banned substance. Pineda’s original suspension was set to be eighty games but was reduced to sixty games after he tested positive for a masking agent associated with Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs).
The Major League Baseball Players Association is releasing the following statement on behalf of Michael Pineda: pic.twitter.com/OauP9G1keI
— MLBPA Communications (@MLBPA_News) September 7, 2019
Twins starter Michael Pineda has been suspended for 60 games for a drug violation, sources tell ESPN. He originally got an 80-game suspension, but it was reduced to 60 on appeal, as a compelling case was made that a banned diuretic he used was not a masking agent for PEDs.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) September 7, 2019
Pineda tested positive for hydrochlorothiazide which is considered to be used as a masking agent for PEDs. On the season, Pineda has accumulated an 11-5 record for the Twins where his ERA is 4.01, his WHIP is 1.16, and he has struck out 140 batters over 146 innings pitched in 2019. Pineda is making his return from Tommy John Surgery after missing all of 2018, and this has not been a bad return campaign for the Twins right-hander.
Last spring, Twins shortstop Jorge Polanco was hit with an eighty game suspension for PED use and Pineda is not the only player this season. Earlier this year, Frankie Montas was suspended after he tested positive for PEDs for the Oakland Athletics.
