NEW YORK -- Former Yankee Michael Pineda made his first career start as a visitor at Yankee Stadium on Sunday in the Twins' 4-1 loss to New York. Pineda pitched for the Yankees from 2014-17 after being traded to New York in January '12 from the Mariners.

Pineda missed time during his Yankees career with shoulder surgery, Tommy John surgery and associated injuries. He signed with the Twins in December 2017 knowing he likely would not pitch in '18 due to his recovery from elbow surgery.

“It feels good to come back to your old house, to see my friends. ... I’m going to be so happy to be back in Yankee Stadium, facing my old team,” Pineda said Friday.

Pineda had a sensational 2014 for the Yankees, posting a 1.89 ERA in just 76 1/3 innings, in a season where he missed time with a muscle strain in his surgically repaired right shoulder. The rest of his Yankees career didn’t go quite as strongly, with a 4.56 ERA in 76 starts from 2015-17. That said, he’s eager to see his old haunts.

Yankee Stadium was certainly Pineda’s preferred mound during his time with the Yankees. As a member of the club, he had a 3.95 ERA in 47 starts at Yankee Stadium and a 4.40 ERA in 42 road starts. Pineda's final start in pinstripes was at Yankee Stadium on July 5, 2017.

“I have a lot of friends over there,” Pineda said. “I have good relations with everybody, so it’s good to have a couple of days before my game to see everybody, because I want to focus on my game Sunday.”

Pineda turned in a four-inning, scoreless start in his first outing of the season on March 31, then allowed two and three runs, respectively, in his next two starts before running into some trouble. Since April 18, his fourth start of the season, he has a 9.64 ERA in 14 innings.

“I’ve had three really good starts, and even though my last start wasn’t too good, that’s baseball. I’ll keep working and it’s going to be OK,” he said of his performance so far this year.

Astudillo update
Willians Astudillo, who has been on the injured list since April 28 with a strained left hamstring, is likely to return soon after his stint reaches 10 days, manager Rocco Baldelli said Saturday.

“As of right now, as long as nothing changes, I don’t think it’s going to be much longer than 10 days,” Baldelli said. “Small range.”

Astudillo was initially going to take grounders before Saturday’s game, but was unable to with the tarp on the field early. He was set to catch a bullpen on Saturday, according to Baldelli, to see how he’s feeling, and do some running at some point in the next few days as well. Astudillo was out on the field running under the purview of a trainer before Saturday’s game.

Asked if Astudillo would embark on a rehab assignment or just return to the big league club, Baldelli said no decision had been made yet, but he would lean towards no rehab games if the time of the injured-list stint is as short as expected.