Yankees’ Clarke Schmidt continues steady improvement with solid outing

Clarke Schmidt is heading in the right direction.

If there was any doubt about that, Thursday night provided a prime example.

Facing the mighty Orioles on a night when several calls failed him, the right-hander continued to show more positives than negatives in the Yankees’ 3-1 loss at Stadium.

“I feel like I’m making a lot of really good progress, getting better with every outing and learning a lot more, continuing to grow as a starter,” Schmidt said after allowing an earned run while retiring four and stepping two out of five. grainy sleeves.

The performance capped a strong May for Schmidt, who has now allowed two or fewer earned runs in four of his last five starts.

This start could easily have lasted longer, had it not been for plate umpire Edwin Moscoso.

Schmidt should have been out of the opening round.

Instead, he accompanied Gunnar Henderson to load the bases.

Three pitches caught part of the strike zone, three pitches that would have hit Henderson.

They were all called bullets.

The right-hander did not let himself be defeated.

He retired Austin Hays on a pop-up to escape the frame.

“Things like this are going to happen,” said Schmidt, who threw 97 pitches, 65 for strikes. “You have to do a good job of wiping it off and moving on. … The best thing to do is to keep trying to achieve your goals and perform as much as you can, and hopefully the tide will eventually turn. I try not to let that affect me too much when I’m there.

Those extra pitches obviously didn’t help Schmidt go deeper in the game, as he threw 29 pitches in the first inning.

But manager Aaron Boone was pleased with his pitcher’s ability to go five innings while allowing just one run against one of the American League’s top teams.

“I thought he was really good, against a tough formation with really hard left-handed hitters in that formation,” Boone said. “He kept us there, gave us a chance.”

Boone also had his pitcher’s back.

The manager was thrown out by Moscoso for arguing over balls and strikes in the third inning.

Schmidt went out of his way to thank Boone for his support.

“We are fighting tooth and nail there, so to see your manager fighting tooth and nail for you too is a good feeling,” Schmidt said. “I know he will always have our backs. You saw this tonight.