It happened again for Clarke Schmidt.
For the first five innings, he cruised through the A’s lineup, scattered two hits and flashed the growth that surfaced last year and carried over into his early-season outings.
But then the sixth inning arrived.
Schmidt hit Ryan Noda. Tyler Nevin doubled.
Brent Rooker launched a ball over the left-field fence.
And that was it.
“Stuff-wise, nothing fell off,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Just a little bit of execution there and maybe some pitch selection.”
Schmidt’s bid to throw six full innings for the first time in 2024 fell apart in a span of four A’s batters, and while he still picked up the win for the Yankees (17-8) during their 7-3 victory against Oakland on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium, the unraveling captured the next hurdle for the 28-year-old to overcome.
He entered his fifth start of the year with a 54.00 ERA in the sixth inning, and that only got worse as he allowed three runs while recording just a single out.
“It could be pitch-selection things,” Schmidt said of pitching deeper into games. “It could also be just kind of staying within myself and not trying to over-execute, just going out there and doing my job. … I think guys can tend to do that at the end of games, especially myself.”
The pitch that hit Noda and the ball that Nevin connected with were the two that Schmidt was “frustrated with,” but he still notched a 30th consecutive start in which he allowed three runs or fewer, tying Blake Snell for the second-most in MLB since the start of last season and moving within two of Sonny Gray.
He struck out at least six batters for the third consecutive outing, too.
And Oakland went 12 consecutive plate appearances without a hit until Lawrence Butler led off the fifth with a single, but he was quickly erased on a double-play in what turned into a five-pitch inning for Schmidt.
That didn’t prevent the sixth-inning issues from resurfacing, though.
Two doubles across three batters followed Schmidt’s five innings of one-run, five-hit pitching against the Astros in his first start of 2024.
Facing the Guardians two starts later, two singles to start the sixth led to Boone pulling Schmidt.
The same trouble materialized again Friday with a homer and double in that frame.
Still, Schmidt, who was stuck in the bullpen two seasons ago, has continued to emerge as a dependable starter for the Yankees.
Last year, he added a cutter to his mix.
His flashes became more consistent.
And, at this point, extending those outings deeper into games will only help add to his revived trajectory.
“Obviously, leaves a sour taste in your mouth,” Schmidt said, “and that’s baseball.”
