NEW YORK – Yankees right-hander Clarke Schmidt pitched his best game of the season on Monday night at Yankee Stadium, but he ended up with a no-decision as New York lost to the Angels, 1-0, in 11 innings.
The Yankees have lost four straight for the first time this season and haven’t led in their past 39 innings. They have been held scoreless in their past 20 innings.
Manager Aaron Boone doesn’t seem concerned about a team that is still first in the American League in runs scored with 370. He gave credit to Angels right-hander José Soriano for keeping the Yankees off-balance. Soriano pitched seven scoreless innings in a no-decision.
The Yankees had an opportunity to win it in the ninth inning. After Giancarlo Stanton – playing in his first game of the season – led off with a double against Kenley Jansen, New York couldn’t score the winning run. By the time the game ended, the Yankees had gone 1-for-18 with runners in scoring position.
“With that said, I thought we had OK at-bats, and we didn’t walk enough and [Soriano] kept us in the ballpark,” Boone said. “I thought enough guys down the lineup had some hard-hit balls, but when you are not hitting the ball out of the ballpark and you are having a hard time scoring runs, you have to take advantage of some situational things that come up. We had some leverage there late with a runner on second and couldn’t push it around.”
The Angels took the lead in the top of the 11th inning when Nolan Schanuel swung at a 1-1 pitch from right-hander Jonathan Loáisiga and doubled down the left-field line, scoring Christian Moore to break the scoreless tie.
Schmidt pitched 7 2/3 innings without allowing a run on four hits and struck out three batters. After allowing a first-inning single to Mike Trout, Schmidt retired the next 16 hitters before allowing a two-out single to Schanuel in the sixth.
Schmidt left the game after allowing a two-out triple to Moore in the eighth, Moore’s first career hit. But reliever Fernando Cruz was able to get out of the inning by striking out Zach Neto.
Schmidt now has a scoreless streak of 18 1/3 innings, lowering his ERA to 3.16.
“He has had a lot of good outings,” Boone said. “He was so efficient, he wasn’t spraying the ball at all, which he can do sometimes. I thought he was really sharp with his stuff.
“The last couple of times out, he has expanded his arsenal a little bit. That’s important for him, especially facing a heavy right-handed lineup, being able to use the sinker to go with the cutter and mix in some four-seam fastballs. I thought he was really sharp tonight.”
Schmidt said he will continue to refine his arsenal. Considering he didn’t have much of a Spring Training – he missed the start of the season because of right rotator cuff tendinitis – it’s encouraging to see Schmidt become a reliable starter for the Yankees.
“I think we are continuing to push the envelope and going deep in games – pushing six, seven innings. That’s what quality starters do in this game. I’m really encouraged by that,” Schmidt said.