Chad Green is not going to be walking through that door — to Open a game anytime soon, as he signed with Toronto this winter and is still recovering from Tommy John surgery.
With Carlos Rodon still out — and new reports that his back is barking — and Luis Severino still out, and Frankie Montas out for the year — Clarke Schmidt is going to continue to get starts even though he is trying to find himself and prove that he’s a major league starter.
He didn’t again — another uneven outing. Had good stuff but not good enough control. Made mistakes; settled down; made more mistakes. Like always. His line: 3.2 innings, 6 hits, 4 runs.
And the Yankee offense — now without Giancarlo Stanton for the next 2 months — could not capitalize enough on 6 walks handed out by Angels starter Jose Suarez in the first 3 innings. NY got only 4 hits on the night, and 2 runs.
When asked if Schmidt should/would be pulled from the rotation and put in lower-leverage situations, manager Aaron Boone said “We’re a little banged up in the rotation right now. He’s got to go out there and kind of find a way and get to that next level. We don’t really have that luxury right now.”
1. Schmidt Uneven
A cool, 55-degree evening at Yankee Stadium started out with Double, Homerun (by Shohei Ohtani), and single (by Mike Trout). Angels 2 Yanks 0 and nobody out yet.
Sho Borough 😎#GoHalos pic.twitter.com/VCPMFla0W1
— Los Angeles Angels (@Angels) April 18, 2023
Then Schmidt settled down — got out of the inning, doubling Trout off first after catching a foul out — and pitched a 1-2-3 inning for the 2nd and 3rd.
But in the 4th — double by Trout leading off, single by 3rd baseman Anthony Rendon, single by Hunter Renfroe and it was 4-0 Angels — nobody out.
Schmidt then got a strikeout and groundout, but with 2 outs hit Zach Neto with a pitch and was gone — relieved by Greg Weissert, who got the final out.
“I take full responsibility for what happened tonite, and not being able to get through the heart of that order,” said Schmidt afterwards. “They have a good lineup obviously, and then getting through the bottom of the order pretty clean, but having Trout 0-2 and you make a mistake pitch — I need to clean up those mistake pitches and make sure we’re clean with everything. And some usages need to be addressed. But I feel good; I feel healthy. Will just continue to work and get better every time out.”
Judge: “I’m Not Too Worried About Him”
“He’s shown up to work every single day,” said Aaron Judge about Schmidt. “He’s putting the work in. He’s been showing up every 5 days for us. It’s a long season. I know he’s going to keep going out there and doing what he’s doing. He’s going to figure it out — I’m not too worried about him.”
Monty?
Schmidt’s failures so far as a starter, and the injuries to the starting staff, harken some Yank fans to the higher-rated-than-Schmidt starter from the Yank system — Jordan Montgomery — who NY traded last year for Harrison Bader (still out with another injury).
But Bader was fantastic in last year’s playoffs — becoming a fan favorite — and Monty is uneven himself this year — at 2-2 4.84, with — for the first time in his career — more hits than innings pitched: 22.1 innings, 25 hits. One has to wonder if the new rule to eliminate the shift has anything to do with that, and Yank management sensed a number of pitchers would fall back to earth with the rule change.
2. Yanks Couldn’t Capitalize Enough on Suarez’s Walks
Meanwhile Jose Suarez was not pitching much better than Schmidt. In the bottom of the 1st with 2 outs, Anthony Rizzo doubled and Suarez walked Gleyber Torres and DJ LeMahieu to load the bases — but Oswald Peraza grounded out to end the threat.
In the 2nd inning, Isiah Kiner-Falefa led off with a single, but was picked off 1st with 1 out. Suarez then walked Aaron Hicks and Anthony Volpe, but Aaron Judge LINED OUT to 3rd to end the threat.
The Yanks finally broke through in the 4th, when Peraza led off with a walk, Kyle Higashioka hit a 1-out single, and Aaron Hicks walked to load the bases with 1 out.
Suarez was Yanked for reliever Andrew Wantz, who walked Anthony Volpe for a run.
Anthony Volpe works a walk with the bases loaded!
Watch #YANKSonYES live on YES and the YES app: https://t.co/aRu5PF6QsA pic.twitter.com/bOf37PnNIW
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) April 19, 2023
Aaron Judge hit a sac fly for another run, before Anthony Rizzo struck out to end the rally.
Aaron Judge picks up his ninth RBI of the season with a sac fly in the fourth!
Watch #YANKSonYES live on YES and the YES app: https://t.co/aRu5PF6QsA pic.twitter.com/Yl30F4eKdY
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) April 19, 2023
3. Angels Bullpen Shuts Yanks Down
And then the Angels’ bullpen came in to shut the Yankees out — Wantz finished with 1.2 innings, charged with 0 runs, Jimmy Herget came in to pitch 2 shutout innings, Jamie Barria pitched a shutout 8th, and Jose Quijada closed — striking out 2 in the 9th.
The Yanks were only able to get 1 hit on that pen in 6.1 innings.
Etcetera
The game was played on a wild night for NY sports — with the Knicks, Rangers, and Devils also playing in the playoffs — the Knicks got crushed by the Cavs in game 2 of their series, and the Rangers beat the Devils.
So there was much divided attention by NY fans flipping channels all night or having all games going on various devices (tv, laptop, phone, radio, etc) at the same time.
The Boxscore
https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401471269
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