Schmidt “Pretty Good” Pitching & Oswaldo HR Carry Yanks. NY 3 Cleveland 2

April 14, 2024 paperbacklou 2024 0

Clarke Schmidt was “pretty good” — pitching a shutout through the 5th but running into a little trouble the 3rd time through the order in the 6th. By that time he had a 3-0 lead thanks to a 2-run homer by Oswaldo Cabrera in the top of the 6th — and that was all he needed for the win as the Yankee bullpen shut the door on the Guardians.

Final score: NY 3 Cleveland 2, on a Saturday afternoon in Cleveland — the first game of a double header.

“The walks kinda late got him,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards. “But I thought he was pretty good. I thought his stuff looked good. He was getting swing and miss from guys who you don’t typically see swing and miss from which is a tribute to his stuff. All in all, pretty good. Would have liked to see him work through the 6th, but I think the 5th where he walked back to back guys and was able to get out of it with the big double play ball. Not perfect. But his stuff was good.”

NY improves to 11-3; Cleveland falls to 9-4.

1. Carrasco Rope-a-Dope Yank Lineup with DP’s

One-time ace Carlos Carrasco is back in Cleveland after 3 years with the Mets — he is now 37 years old coming off a 3-8 6.80 for the Mets last year. He was 15-7 3.97 in 2022 so he is not that removed from being a top starter.

  • Carrasco faced the ominous Yankee lineup and barely got thru the 1st inning — escaping a 2-out double by Aaron Judge and walk to Anthony Rizzo.
  • But in the top of the 2nd, Carrasco walked Alex Verdugo and Oswaldo Cabrera, and allowed a single to Jose Trevino to load the bases with nobody out. But he got Trent Grisham to ground into a double play to quell the rally — still NY had a 1-0 lead.
  • In the 3rd, Carrasco walked Juan Soto to lead off, but Aaron Judge hit a line drive to center that was caught by Tyler Freeman, who doubled Soto off 1st.
  • In the 4th, Gleyber Torres led off with a single, Alex Verdugo double, and after Cabrera struck out, Jose Trevino walked to load the bases with 1 out. But Grisham grounded into another double play to end the inning.
  • Carrasco got the first 2 outs of the 5th before an Aaron Judge single sent him to the showers.

2. Schmidt “Pretty Good”

Meanwhile, Clarke Schmidt was ripping through the Cleveland lineup through the first 4 innings, striking out 7 and allowing only 1 hit.

His knuckle curve was so good he made Pitching Ninja 3 times.

Notice the green face emoji in the Pitching Ninja tweet turn from nauseous to vomiting:

One more:

Schmidt issued consecutive 1-out walks in the 5th, but then got a double play to end the inning.

About having trouble the 3rd time through, Boone said this about Schmidt: “Just execute. When he gets more and more opportunities — execution. He had 2 strikes on Gimenez; missed right down the middle for the base hit that ends up chasing him. He’s got an arsenal that will allow him to do that — just comes down to executing during those times.”

3. Oswaldo 2-Run Homer

Nick Sandlin relieved Carrassco in the 5th, getting the last out, but in the top of the 6th the Yankees greeted him with an Alex Verdugo double and 358-foot homer to right by Oswaldo Cabrera. NY 3 Cleveland 0.

4. Gleyber Error Allows 2 Runs

With NY up 3-0, Schmidt allowed consecutive singles by Steven Kwan and Andres Gimenez to lead off the 6th, and he was relieved.

Caleb Ferguson came in and struck out the tough Jose Ramirez, but he walked Josh Naylor to load the bases.

Ferguson got Tyler Freeman to hit an easy, taylor-made-double-play chopper to 2nd — Gleyber Torres fielded it, stepped on 2nd for an out, then submarined the ball over Rizzo’s head at 1st for an error and 2 runs.

Yankee Twitter went Ballistic.

Ferguson got the final out but it was a 3-2 nailbitter.

4. Bullpen Shuts the Door

But the Yankee bullpen shut the door.

Ian Hamilton pitched a shutout 7th — allowing a 2-out double then a walk, but getting Gimenez to ground out. PHEW.

Hamilton followed with a 1-2-3 inning in the 8th.

In the 9th, Clay Holmes — knicknamed “Mr. Agita” — allowed a leadoff double, but then struck out Bo Naylor and old friend Estevan Florial, and got Ramon Laureano to ground out for the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401654406

 

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