Clarke Schmidt, in his best start of 2023, cruised against a tough Blue Jays lineup on Sunday. Until he didn’t.
The 27-year-old righty was perfect through the early frames, but a fifth inning double from Matt Chapman put that to rest. Then came the sixth inning, when Anthony Volpe’s first career error preempted a two-run home run from Vladimir Guerrero Jr., his second of the series.
“It’s a play that I feel like we make every single day in training and everything like that,” Volpe said of his mistake. “So I definitely expect myself to make it for me and for the team.”
Daulton Varsho immediately followed Guerrero with a solo shot in what became a 5-1, series-winning victory for Toronto.
Schmidt’s day ended there on an especially sour note, though his fifth start of the season was also his longest and most efficient. The right-hander, one of three replacement starters in the Yankees’ rotation due to injuries, threw 76 pitches over 5.2 innings while striking out eight Jays for a new career high. Schmidt also allowed a season-low three hits and dropped his ERA to 6.30. The two longballs proved costly, though none of Schmidt’s three runs allowed were earned.
“I thought he threw the ball great,” Aaron Boone said. “Went through that lineup a couple of times. Really electric, really aggressive with his sinker.”
Schmidt, who used his cutter less against Toronto’s righty-dominant lineup, said that aggression played a key part in his turnaround performance.
“I wanted to be on the attack,” he explained. “So I kind of just flipped a switch in my mind. Coming up, I was always the aggressive, fierce competitor, on the attack at all times, and I felt like I kind of strayed away from that in my first few outings. So getting back to that was my main thing.
“When your back’s against the wall and you kind of haven’t been doing your job, you can find ways to motivate yourself. I wanted to go deeper in games, I wanted to give my team a chance to win, and I was pissed off that I wasn’t doing it. So I felt like I was going to carry that rage into today and into the future.”
With Schmidt gone, Toronto added another run in the seventh when Danny Jansen doubled off Michael King. One extra score came in the ninth when the Yankees failed to turn a double play.
Anthony Rizzo hit a solo home run in the ninth inning for the 1,500th hit of his career, and DJ LeMahieu — Saturday’s walk-off hero — enjoyed a three-hit day. But the Bombers’ lineup had next to nothing for Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman, who matched Schmidt in the hit department while striking out 11 batters over seven scoreless innings. The righty didn’t issue any free passes over 103 pitches, including 20 splitters that induced 11 whiffs.
“The split’s obviously a great pitch for him,” Boone said. “I thought he stayed a little bit unpredictable with it and used his fastball really well and in different counts. But we just weren’t able to really solve that split today.”
With Sunday’s defeat, the Yankees lost their first series of the year. Next on the docket is a trip to Minnesota, where Jhony Brito will take on the Twins in Monday’s series-opener.
The Twins bombarded Brito the last time they saw him on April 13, as the young righty surrendered seven runs in the first inning and only recorded two outs.
Twins right-hander Sonny Gray will oppose Brito on Monday. The former Yankee is off to an excellent start this season, as he owns a 0.82 ERA through four starts.
Nestor Cortes is scheduled to pitch for the Yankees Tuesday, while Joe Ryan will get the ball for the Twins. Minnesota scored two runs over seven innings against Cortes on April 14. Ryan struck out 10 while holding the Yankees to one run over seven scoreless innings on April 13.
Domingo German and Kenta Maeda will square off in Wednesday’s series finale before the Yankees head to Texas for four games with the Rangers.
The Yanks will look to improve their short-handed offense on the road, as they’ve scored less than four runs in eight of their last 10 games.
“We got to score more than we have here lately, but that’s part of it. We’re a little banged up, but we got to find ways,” Boone said. “We’ve done some really good situational, winning things when we’ve had those chances, but right now, we’re struggling to kind of roll those crooked ones up there.”
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