Yankee Bombers Strike While Schmidt No Hits ‘Em. NY 9 Baltimore 0

June 22, 2025 paperbacklou 2025 0
Trent Grisham solo HR in 1st gives NY early 1-0 lead.

The Yankee bombers bombed away early — homers by Trent Grisham, J.C. Escarra, Ben Rice, and Anthony Volpe — giving NY an 8-0 lead by the 5th — and then the focus of the game shifted to the no hitter that Clarke Schmidt was throwing — into the 7th inning!

Schmidt went over his pitch limit at 103 pitches and was relieved after 7 innings of no-hit ball, and JT Brubaker allowed a hit to the first batter he faced in the 8th — old friend Gary Sanchez — who appeared to strike out, but the umps missed a call saying he didn’t go around on a check swing. Brubaker finished with 2 shutout innings in the 9-0 NY win at Yankee Stadium on a splendid, sunny, 80-degree, Saturday afternoon.

It was Brubaker’s first appearance on a big-league mound in 3 years, following Tommy John surgery and then a freak 3-broken-rib accident after getting hit by a ball last Spring Training with the Yankees, who had acquired him from Pittsburgh.

Anthony Volpe broke out of his 0-25 slump by going 3-4 with a HR — a squibbler, the HR, and a bloop single.

It was a feel-good day for the Yanks all around.

“I kind of feel like Clarke’s one of the more underrated starting pitchers in the game,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards. “It’s two years now of really, really good stuff.”

“What stands out to me is not just solely leaning on the cutter; it’s such an important pitch for him. The use of 4 pitches: added Boone. “The cutter with the 4-seamer too, so he has a presence both sides of the plate with fastballs. Even mixed in a good sinker today on (Colton) Cowser, almost looked like a split inside. And then the 2 breaking balls are very good. But I like how he’s using his arsenal right now.”

NY improves to 44-32 and remain in 1st in the AL East by 1.5 games over Tampa and 3 over Toronto, while Boston is now 5 back. Baltimore drops to 33-43.

1. Grisham Bomb in 1st Starts the Attack

The Orioles started Zach Eflin, who came in with a 6-3 4.81 slash line — and he didn’t fare well. By the end of the outing he’d be 6-4 5.46 after allowing 6 earned runs on 10 hits in 3 innings.

Trent Grisham got to the 6’6 righthander with 1 out in the bottom of the 1st with a 343-foot HR into the short porch in right for a 1-0 Yankee lead.

2. Escarra & Rice Bombs in 2nd

After Grisham’s HR in the 1st, Aaron Judge walked and Cody Bellinger singled but Eflin reared back and struck out Jazz Chisholm Jr., and Jasson Dominguez to end the inning — then struck out Anthony Volpe to lead off the 2nd so appeared to be back in command.

But J.C. Escarra ripped a 381-foot HR to right and it was 2-0 Yanks.

An out later, Ben Rice hit a line shot 381-foot HR to right and it was 3-0 Yanks.

3. Yanks Machine-Gun Single Attack Plates 3 in 3rd

After Rice’s HR, the Yanks continued to machine-gun Eflin in the 2nd — Grisham with a single and Judge another walk — before Eflin got the final out.

But the Yanks continued to rake him in the 3rd — a leadoff single by Jazz Chisholm Jr., a single by Jasson Dominguez, and a dribbler down 3rd by Anthony Volpe for an infield single — breaking Volpe’s 0-25 slump.

With bases loaded and nobody out, J.C. Escarra hit a sac fly to center for a 4-0 Yankee lead.

And then Oswald Peraza blooped one into right field just over the 1st baseman’s head, as both The Martian and Volpe scored. Yankees 6 Orioles 0.

4. Volpe HR & Rice Triple in 5th

Eflin left after 3 innings, replaced by Andrew Kittredge. The 6’2 righty pitched a 1-2-3 shutout 4th, but the Yanks got to him in the 5th.

Anthony Volpe led off by ripping a 96-MPH four-seam fastball for a HR into the short porch the opposite way. Yankees 7 Orioles 0.

Two batters later, Ben Rice hit his 2nd ROCKET of the afternoon — this one up against the centerfield wall for an RBI triple — scoring J.C. Escarra who had gotten on due to an error by the 2nd baseman. Yankees 8 Orioles 0.

5. Escarra RBI Single Makes It 9-0 in 6th

At this point focus started to shift to Clarke Schmidt — who simply had a no hitter going thru 6 innings. But the Yankee bombers kept attacking.

In the bottom of the 6th, NY got revenge against Scott Blewett, the 6’6 righty who had pitched 2 shutout, 1-2-3 innings the night before to help Baltimore to a 5-3 win.

Blewett got the first 2 outs of the inning, but Jasson Dominguez worked a walk, and Anthony Volpe got his 3rd hit of the afternoon — a bloop single into right.

J.C. Escarra then singled in The Martian and it was Yankees 9 Orioles 0.

6. Meanwhile — Schmidt No Hitter!

The top of the 7th was a serendipity inning — rooting for Clarke Schmidt to continue his no hitter, fully knowing there was no way he was going to pitch a complete game as his pitch count was hitting the 90’s.

Schmidt began the inning by going 3-0 on Ryan O’Hearn, then coming back to go 3-2 and get him to fly out in an 8-pitch at bat. Schmidt got Ramon Laureano to pop out to Chisholm at 3rd in a 6-pitch at bat, and then went 7 pitches to Colton Cowser before getting him to hit a can-of-corn to Jasson Dominguez in left — leaving the mound triumphant and looking a bit spent at 103 pitches in the hot sunny afternoon — tipping his cap to the fans as Yankee Stadium gave him a standing ovation.

“Obviously I want to go as deep as I can, but when you’re at the 103 mark and you have two more innings to go and you have 80 more games to go, you’ve got to think bigger picture here,” said Schmidt afterwards.

Schmidt has now pitched 25.1 consecutive scoreless innings. His line: 7 IP, 0 hits, 0 runs, His slash line is now 4-3 2.85.

7. Brubaker Finishes It

And then yet another feel-good story took center stage, as JT Brubaker finally made his first appearance as a Yankee — over a year after the freak Spring Training accident where he broke 3 ribs after being hit by a ball — and 3 years after he last pitched with Pittsburgh after Tommy John surgery.

Brubaker allowed a single to the first batter he faced — old Yankee friend Gary Sanchez — who appeared to strike out swinging on a 2-2 pitch, but the umps incorrectly called it a check swing. Sanchez broke up the no hitter on the next pitch with a single to center off a 3-2, 95-MPH sinker.

But Brubaker — who was a starting pitcher with the Pirates — got a ground out, line out, walk, and pop out to end the inning — then pitched a 1-2-3 shutout 9th (strike out, fly out, ground out) for the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401696048

 

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