Clarke Schmidt negotiated a high pitch count in the early going to throw 6 stellar innings of 4-hit, shutout baseball, and the Yankee bullpen of Ian Hamilton, Tim Hill, and Mark Leiter Jr. did the rest for a 1-0 Yankee win over the Angels in LA on a Wednesday night.
The only Yankee run came in the 1st off Yusei Kikuchi on a bases-loaded, 1 out sac fly by Anthony Volpe. Kikuchi had allowed a leadoff double by Paul Goldschmidt, then struck out Trent Grisham but intentionally walked Aaron Judge — surprising as it came so early in the game. The move backfired when Clay Bellinger also worked a walk to load the bases, setting up Volpe’s sac fly.
“I thought he was sharp overall,” said manager Aaron Boone about Schmidt. “They added some deeper counts; fouling a lot of pitches off — running the count up a little bit. The couple of times he got into a little bit of a pickle he made a lot of really good pitches. I thought the sweeper was really good tonite, he mixed in the sinker with his cutter. He was sharp tonite; much sharper than his last time out.”
NY sweeps the 3-game series and improves to 35-20, in 1st in the AL East by 7 games over Tampa. The Angels fall to 25-30.
1. Yanks Jump On Top with Volpe Sac Fly
Paul Goldschmidt led the game off with a double, but Angels’ starter Yusei Kikuchi struck out Trent Grisham. Manager Ron Washington called for an intentional walk of Aaron Judge to put runners on 1st and 2nd — which surprised even Aaron Boone, he said afterwards.
Clay Bellinger then walked too, to load the bases. Anthony Volpe hit a sac fly to left center and it was 1-0 Yankees.
Volpe’s sac fly makes it 1-0 Yankees in the first! pic.twitter.com/BfF8BNPU6v
— Talkin’ Yanks (@TalkinYanks) May 29, 2025
2. Schmidt Stellar After High-Pitch Beginning
Clarke Schmidt struggled a bit in the first 2 innings, and his pitch count climbed to 50+ pitches by the 3rd — but he got sharper as the game progressed — using his knuckle curve, cutter, sinker, and sweeper to great effect.
- Schmidt allowed a leadoff single to Zach Neto in the 1st, but next batter 1st baseman Nolan Schanuel hit into a double play. With 2 outs, 3rd baseman Yoan Moncada hit a double but Schmidt struck out Chris Ward to end the inning.
- Schmidt was immediately in a little bit of a pickle in the bottom of the 2nd, when Soler led off with a single and Schmidt walked DH Logan O’Hoppe. But again Schmidt got tough — striking out the next 2 batters and getting Luis Rengifro to ground out in a 9-pitch at bat to end the inning.
Clarke Schmidt’s 2Ks in the 2nd. pic.twitter.com/hQLwll0Ana
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 29, 2025
- Schmidt was at 41 pitches already heading into the 3rd. He pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 3rd but Schanuel worked a 9-pitch at bat before flying out for the 2nd out — so it was 16 more pitches for the inning and Schmidt was at 57 pitches after 3 innings.
Schmidt allowed only 1 more baserunner the rest of his outing — a 1-out infield single by Soler in the 4th, then pitched a 1-2-3 shutout 5th and 6th, leaving after 99 pitches with a 1-0 lead.
Clarke Schmidt, Wicked 83mph Sweeper. 🤢 pic.twitter.com/7xQ2gIriiM
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 29, 2025
Schmidt’s line: 6 IP, 4 hits, 0 runs, 4 K’s, 1 walk. He wins to go 2-2 3.95.
3. Kikuchi Settled Down
Kikuchi was on the ropes in the 2nd as well — but got out of it.
J.C. Escarra led off the 2nd with a double, but Kikuchi got Oswald Peraza to hit into a double play. Kikuchi then walked Paul Goldschmidt and Trent Grisham doubled him to 3rd. With 2nd and 3rd, 2 outs — manager Ron Washington again intentionally walked Aaron Judge to load the bases!
Aaron Judge being intentionally walked twice in the first 2 innings was trending on Twitter.
It put pressure on Kikuchi, who with bases now loaded went 3-0 to Cody Bellinger (who had worked a walk after Judge’s intentional walk in the 1st). But this time Kikuchi threw strikes and got Bellinger to fly out to left on a 3-2 pitch as Ron Washington pumped his fist in celebration in the dugout.
After that Kikuchi got on his bicycle, and threw 3 shutout innings, allowing only a 1-out walk to Jasson Dominguez in the 3rd, and retiring the last 5 batters he faced. His line: 5 IP, 4 hits, 1 run. He loses to go 1-5 3.06.
4. Hamilton Terrific
Good news for the Yanks: Ian Hamilton, who has struggled in some outings so far this year, came in and pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 7th, striking out 2 swinging.
Hamilton allowed a leadoff single to Chris Taylor in the 8th however, and Rengifro bunted Taylor to 2nd. But Hamilton got Zach Neto to fly to center for the 2nd out.
5. Hill Gets It Done with 1 Pitch
Tim Hill came in to face the lefty Schanuel with the tying run on 2nd, and got him to ground out on 1 pitch — sending the game to the 9th with NY up 1-0.
6. Leiter a Great Save
With both Luke Weaver and Devin Williams having been used heavily this week, Mark Leiter Jr. came in for the save in the 1-0 game.
And he was terrific — lineout, strikeout, walk to Jorge Soler, and then strikeout of O’Hoppe swinging at a curveball for the old ballgame.
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