Twins’ Michael Pineda gets 60-game drug suspension

The Minnesota Twins’ playoff push took a significant hit Saturday when a key starting pitcher was busted for use of a banned drug.

According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, pitcher Michael Pineda has been suspended for 60 games for a drug violation. The suspension was reduced on appeal from 80 games, as he was able to make the case that the banned diuretic was not meant to mask PED use.

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

The appeal doesn’t do much good for Minnesota now. He won’t pitch again in 2019, and that includes any playoff games the Twins might play. The 30-year-old had made 26 starts for Minnesota this season, going 11-5 with a 4.01 ERA. His previous brushes with illegal behavior were generally with regard to overly blatant use of pine tar while with the New York Yankees.