Clarke Schmidt got off to a shaky start Wednesday against the Guardians, and it wound up being the difference in the Yankees loss.
The main course on the menu came early as Cleveland ripped three runs off Schmidt in the first inning. The scoring would be the last until seven innings later when Kyle Manzardo hit a 405-foot homer off Fernando Cruz to cap off the 4-0 Guardians win.
Schmidt pitched his way to a 1-2 count on Steven Kwan before three straight balls put the leadoff man aboard. Angel Martínez then launched a first-pitch cutter into the seats in right and Cleveland would score once more before Schmidt got out of the inning.
“When you’re getting banged around like that in the first, it’s pretty glaring,” Schmidt said postgame. “It’s kind of like walking a tightrope, it’s like, ‘Are you making bad pitches or is it their approach?’ ”
Schmidt felt it was just Cleveland’s early aggressiveness that did him in.
“For me it was kind of obvious that it was approach,” he said. “I felt like I was making good pitches and my stuff was really crisp.”
And from there, he was able to settle in.
After giving up three hits and a walk in the opening inning, he surrendered just four more hits the rest of the way and tallied eight strikeouts over 5 ²/₃ innings.
The eight punch-outs tied his season high, which he recorded in 4 ²/₃ innings against the Rockies on May 23.
“I think after [the first inning] we made some really good adjustments,” Schmidt said. “I feel like we bounced back well, threw a lot of strikes, getting a lot of swing-and-miss, so I was happy with that getting into the sixth.”
Though Schmidt did put the Yankees in the early 3-0 hole, it was the bats that never woke up.
The lack of run support has become a bit of a theme for Schmidt. Across his past four starts, the Yankees have combined for just five runs and have lost three of the four games — the lone win by 1-0 over the Angels.
“[Schmidt] got into the sixth inning … We just didn’t mount much offensively,” manager Aaron Boone said. “I thought we got pitched pretty tough, we just didn’t have a great night. It happens in the 162. [We] get another opportunity to go win a series tomorrow.”
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