Schmidt’s cutter fails, bullpen let down Yankees in a close fight at Orioles
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The Yankees lost their first on-road game in Baltimore on Friday. Clarke Schmidt struggled with four runs after pitching three innings at Camden Yards. Even though the Yankees came back and took a one-run lead in the sixth, they lost to the Orioles 7-6 thanks to mistakes by their bullpen and a failed rally in the eighth.
Clarke Schmidt’s new cutter fell flat
In his two starts, Clarke Schmidt failed to impress. The Yankees’ starting pitcher added a new cutter over the offseason to help him beat left-handed batters, who have always hit well (.797 OPS) against right-handed pitchers.
The early results have been bad, and a 7-6 loss at Camden Yards on Friday made things even worse. The starter gave up five hits and three walks, which led to four runs and a 4-0 deficit for the Yankees.
“They’ve got a good lineup, top to bottom,’’ said Schmidt, who has lasted 3.1 innings.
Following Schmidt’s two starts, both defeats for the Yankees, opposing batters are a combined 8-for-19 against him, with three walks and two home runs. Schmidt said he is still delighted with his cutter, which he uses often against lefties, but that he wants to understand when to utilize it better.
“It’s a new pitch. I think that’s probably the No. 1 thing is when to use it and how to use it,” Schmidt told in the post-game meet. “That’s what we’re going through right now. … Continuing to learn the spots to use it in is definitely the next step.”
Schmidt gave up a single to lefty Gunnar Henderson, who drove in two runs for the Orioles in the second inning. Two batters later, lefty Adam Frazier’s single drove in Henderson. In the third, Schmidt walked the left-handed Adley Rutschman. Then, lefty-swinging Anthony Santander doubled. Two batters later, Henderson had his RBI double.
“Stuff seemed fine,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Too many mistakes at times, and obviously, the walks hurt him a little bit today.”
Statcast says that Schmidt used his cutter 35.5 percent of the time (27 of 76 times) in his first start of the season last Saturday against San Francisco. Friday at Camden Yards, he threw the cutter 25 percent of the time (21 of 84 times). On that pitch, Adam Frazier drove in a run with a single and Gunnar Henderson drove in a run with a double.
Bullpen doomed the team
The Jonas Brothers, an American pop band with a lot of fans, were invited to Yankee Stadium for a game on April 5, 2023. After going to WFAN, the pop star trio went to the YES Network booth. Nick Jonas started talking about what was happening in the game. He erroneously called the bullpen the ball pit, which made everyone laugh then
“You guys didn’t get that note? No, we’re going to fill up the ball pit – like a McDonald’s ball pit.” Nick said.
On Friday, the Yankees’ bullpen in Baltimore turned into a ball pit. Schmidt kept the ball in the yard on Friday, but the Orioles were always after him. Schmidt’s season ERA is now 9.45 because the Orioles hit balls at him at an average speed of 97.2 mph.
“When you have outings like that, where you feel good, you’re in a good spot and then you nibble, you learn from that,” Schmidt said. “For me, it’s just being able to go back out there next time and just continue to stay on the attack the whole time and kind of shift that mindset a little bit.”
In the sixth, Orioles star catcher Adley Rutschman hit a single that tied the game. Right fielder Ian Hamilton was responsible for that run.
The seventh inning started off badly for Marinaccio when he walked the last batter, Ryan Mountcastle. Boone brought in Jimmy Cordero from the bullpen to try to get out of the jam, but third baseman Ramon Urias hit a double off the right-hander. Urias scored when Cordero threw his second wild pitch of the inning a few seconds later.
“Just not quite his dominant stuff,” Boone said of Marinaccio. “I thought the fastball had a good life to it. It just got a little long there, which is why I got him. Maybe not his nasty swing-and-miss changeup. I thought his fastball life was there. Just maybe not his dominant self. I thought he threw the ball OK.”
Opportunities missed
Even after another clunker from starting pitcher Clarke Schmidt and many bad outings from righties in the bullpen, the Yankees had opportunities on Friday. But they failed to capitalize when they needed their bats the most, falling 7-6 to the Orioles in their opening away game of the season.
After Schmidt got them off to another bad start, the Yankees had to fight back in the middle innings. But they could not.
In the sixth, with the Yankees down by one run, left fielder Oswaldo Cabrera hit a go-ahead double into the gap in right-center field. Giancarlo Stanton and Gleyber Torres ran around to score, which set the stage for what could have been a big inning. In the end, they left Cabrera in third.
In the eighth inning, Cabrera got another hit that scored a run for the Yankees. He drove Stanton home with a single through the right side. Later in the inning, with two outs, he stole third base. However, Isiah Kiner-Falefa struck out swinging, ending the inning and the threat.
Shortstop Anthony Volpe and third baseman DJ LeMahieu both began the ninth inning against Orioles closer Felix Bautista. They only needed one run to complete a late-inning comeback, but they were not up to the mark. Aaron Judge, the right fielder, walked, stole second, and moved to third when the pitcher made a mistake. It tied the game. But all chances for the Yankees ended when first baseman Anthony Rizzo popped out to the shallow left field, sending a sold-out crowd into a frenzy.
In the fourth inning, Franchy Cordero hit his first home run with the Yankees, a three-run blast to right. This reduced the Yankees’ deficit to one run. Cordero is still getting more playing time than Aaron Hicks. In the eighth inning, Giancarlo Stanton hit a 117.1-mph double to left field. It’s amazing to see how he strikes the ball so powerfully while being so relaxed. He had hit a couple of long balls in the opening week of the season, which is encouraging for the Yankees.
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