Clarke Schmidt had his best start this season and the shorthanded Yankees bullpen did its job as New York completed their three-game sweep of the Angels after a 1-0 win on Wednesday night.
Here are the takeaways…
-The Angels’ game plan for Wednesday was to not let Aaron Judge beat them. With a runner on second and one out in the first, the Angels intentionally walked Judge. It was the first time a Yankee was intentionally walked in the first inning since Robinson Cano on June 17, 2012 against the Nationals. The Yankees made them pay after Cody Bellinger walked to load the bases and Anthony Volpe pushed across the game’s first run with a sac fly. DJ LeMahieu flew out with the bases loaded and two outs.
Judge was intentionally walked again in the second inning after a Paul Goldschmidt single and Trent Grisham double with two outs. With the open base, the Angels put Judge on and had Bellinger hit. Unfortunately, Bellinger popped out to end the threat. Judge led off the fifth inning for his third at-bat and was pitched to, but the captain flew out. He would strike out in his final at-bat in the seventh to finish 0-for-2 with his two walks. His batting average has dropped to .391 on the year.
-The Yankees offense had a tough evening. While they picked up seven hits and drew five walks, they just couldn’t get the clutch knock to drive in runs. They were 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left 10 on base.
-Schmidt came into Wednesday’s start having allowed at least two runs in his previous four starts — 10 runs across 22.2 IP — including a loss to the lowly Rockies in his last start, and was in danger of continuing that trend early. He allowed the first two runners to reach in the second inning, but struck out the next two batters and got the final out on a flyout to get out of a jam.
Schmidt would get through six innings without any more jams as he finished his best start of 2025. Schmidt allowed just four hits and one walk over six scoreless innings (99 pitches, 69 strikes) while striking out four.
Yankees starters in this series (Schmidt, Carlos Rodón and Ryan Yarbrough) combined to allow just one run over 19 innings, giving up 11 hits, two walks and striking out 21.
-With Luke Weaver and Devin Williams unavailable, the Yankees bullpen had to piece together the final three innings. Ian Hamilton struck out two in a 1-2-3 seventh but got into some trouble in the eighth. Nursing a 1-0 lead, Chris Taylor led off with a single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. Hamilton would get Zach Neto to fly out before manager Aaron Boone brought in Tim Hill to face the lefty Nolan Schanuel. Hill would get Schanuel to ground out on the first pitch to end the threat.
Mark Leiter Jr. was called on for the save in the ninth. He got Jo Adell to line out on the first pitch, struck out Taylor Ward on three pitches and then had to face the dangerous Jorge Soler, who had two of the Angels’ five hits. Soler worked a walk after falling behind in the count, 1-2. Leiter bounced back to strike out Logan O’Hoppe on five pitches to lock down his second save this season.
Game MVP: Anthony Volpe
The entire Yankees pen and Schmidt did a number on the Angels hitters, but without Volpe’s sac fly, this game would be going into extras.
Highlights
Anthony Volpe with a first inning sac fly to put the Yankees on the board first pic.twitter.com/a7XpHBdd20
— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) May 29, 2025
What’s next
After an off day on Thursday, the Yankees visit the Dodgers for a World Series rematch starting Friday at 10:10 p.m.
Max Fried (7-0, 1.29 ERA) will take on Tony Gonsolin (2-1, 4.68 ERA).
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