Yankees Pitcher Explains Recent Dominance

Clarke Schmidt will look to keep the good times rolling this weekend when he takes the mound against the Athletics. The Yankees right-hander dominated the Baltimore Orioles in his last start, throwing seven innings of no-hit ball.

New York lost the no-no when JT Brubaker gave up a single to former Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez in the eighth inning. Still, Schmidt earned the win in the 9-0 victory over the Orioles. He tied his career high by throwing 103 pitches, 70 for strikes. Schmidt fanned five, walked two and hit one batter.

While Schmidt's record sits at a pedestrian 4-3, he's compiled an impressive 2.84 ERA over 12 starts. Among the reasons for his success this year is his much-improved sinker.

“We changed the orientation from a two-seamer,” Schmidt explained to FanGraphs. “We felt that with a one-seam sinker we could induce a little more vertical depth. Before, I’d throw some two-seams that were more of a runner. They were like 13 horizontal and [positive] eight vertical; they were kind of just staying up and running in. We wanted to keep the horizontal in the same area, and add some depth. We’re really happy with the changes we made.

"I know that my usage hasn’t been crazy high [8.6%] this year, but we’re continuing to find spots for it," Schmidt continued.

In his start against the Orioles, Schmidt threw first-pitch strikes to 16 of 24 Baltimore hitters. He was trying to become the first Yankees pitcher to throw a no-hitter since Domingo German's perfect game in 2023. It would have been the first no-hitter thrown by a Yankees pitcher in the Bronx since David Cone's perfect game in 1999.

New York opens a three-game series with the Athletics on Friday. Will Warren is lined up to pitch the opener with Schmidt slated to take the mound for Saturday's matinee at Yankee Stadium.

Make sure to bookmark Yankees On SI to get all your daily New York Yankees news, interviews, breakdowns and more!

• Former Yankees Phenom On Track to Start All-Star Game
• Aging Yankees Reliever Thriving With 'Less Gas'
• Insider Warns Yankees Fans About Trade Deadline
• Insider IDs Yankees Trade Deadline Priority, Possible Targets
• Yankees Could Replace Ryan Yarbrough With Cy Young Winner