Clarke Schmidt tossed seven no-hit innings while Zach Eflin only managed three innings as the O’s suffered their seventh shutout loss of the season.
The Yankees took a no-hitter into the 8th inning and the Orioles only managed one hit as they were thoroughly embarrassed in a 9-0 loss in the Bronx.
Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt came into the game with a 18.2 scoreless inning streak and took that hot streak to another level against the O’s. In the 1st, it looked like Baltimore would make Schmidt work for his outs all afternoon. With one out, Jordan Westburg worked a seven-pitch walk and Gunnar Henderson worked a nine-pitch walk to give the Orioles a runner in scoring position.
Ryan O’Hearn then struck out looking on a knuckle curve that fooled him and Ramón Laureano popped out to third on a sweeper running away from him. Despite stranding two runners, the Orioles made Schmidt throw 27 pitches to get through the 1st. Through one inning, there was hope that the Baltimore bats might be able to force Schmidt out of the game early and get to the Yankees’ bullpen.
Instead, it’d be the last time the O’s would get a runner in scoring position against Schmidt. He mowed down Colton Cowser, Gary Sánchez and Cedric Mullins on 12 pitches in the 2nd, punching out both Cowser and Mullins. He put up another 1-2-3 inning in the 3rd, retiring Cedric Mullins, Ramón Urías and Jackson Holliday on another 12 pitches.
The only other base runner allowed by Schmidt came in the 4th, when he bounced a curveball off the top of O’Hearn’s foot for a HBP. After that, he set down the next 11 Orioles he faced before exiting with a no-hitter intact after seven innings.
The O’s only put four balls in play against Schmidt that had an xBA above .200. Henderson had hard-hit groundouts in the 4th and 6th that both had xBAs above .500, Holliday led off the game with a 104mph groundout to 2nd and Urías had a 101mph lineout in the 5th. The rest of the afternoon against Schmidt was a bunch of strikeouts and lazy flies.
Sánchez finally broke up the no-hitter in the 8th, singling to center in the O’s first plate appearance against reliever J.T. Brubaker. Jackson Holliday would work a two-out walk to move Sánchez into scoring position, but Coby Mayo popped out to end Baltimore’s chance at breaking up the shutout.
If the Orioles were going to compete with Schmidt and the Yankees, they needed Zach Eflin’s 1+ stuff. Instead, Eflin followed up a rough start last time out in Tampa with the worst start of his Orioles career on Saturday in the Bronx.
For the second start in a row, Eflin was clearly struggling to command pretty much his entire repertoire. He put the Orioles in an early hole when his curveball caught too much of the plate against Trent Grisham in the 1st. The Yankees’ CF turned the breaking ball around, sending a laser to right field that barely scraped over the wall for a solo HR. The long ball would have only been a homer in one other park—the Rays’ temporary home in Tampa that has the exact same dimensions as Yankee Stadium.
Eflin would work around a walk of Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger single to keep the New York lead at 1-0 in the 1st. The start only got worse for the veteran right-hander in the 2nd. Yankees’ backup catcher J.C. Escarra doubled the Bronx Bombers’ advantage on a no-doubt solo shot to right. Two batters later, Ben Rice hit a HR to almost the exact same spot as the Yankees opened up a 3-0 lead.
Eflin would again strand two runners to end the 2nd, but his afternoon only continued to go downhill in the 3rd. Jazz Chisolm Jr. led off the inning with a hard hit single up the middle and then moved to third on a Jasson Domínguez worm-burner that eluded the Orioles infield. Anthony Volpe then broke a 0-for-24 streak when he tapped a ball out in front of home plate that dribbled down the line for a bases-loading infield single.
If Volpe’s single was unlucky, what happened next made Eflin’s afternoon seem cursed. Escarra hit a sac fly to CF to score Chisolm from third, and an errant throw by Cedric Mullins allowed both Domínguez and Volpe to move into scoring position. No.9 hitter Oswlad Peraza then awkwardly lofted a ball behind first base, with the 54mph bloop landing just inside the foul line to score both runners.
Eflin would finish out the 3rd inning by punching out Aaron Judge to strand two more runners. After throwing 90 pitches to get nine outs, the 10th-year veteran hit the showers early, exiting the game after three innings. It was the first time Eflin failed to record an out in the 4th inning since July 16th, 2023 when he was with the Rays. His final line was a disheartening 3.0 IP, 10 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 4 K and 3 HR.
Volpe and the former Orioles farmhand Escarra continued to be a thorn in the Orioles’ collective side even after left the game. Andrew Kittredge put up the O’s first 1-2-3 inning in the 4th, only for Volpe to hit a solo HR off him to lead off the 5th.
With New York up 7-0, Escarra reached on an error after his liner skipped off Jackson Holliday’s glove. Escarra then scored the Yankees’ eighth run of the game when Rice smashed a triple off the base of the center field wall. New York would get their 9th run of the game on an Escarra RBI single off Scott Blewett in the 6th.
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Jordan Westburg started the game as the Orioles’ DH, but left the game with “left-hand discomfort” after stealing second in the 1st. He was replaced by Mayo.
Westburg will look to avoid the same fate as Adley Rutschman, who landed on the IL right before the game started with a left oblique strain.
Dean Kremer will get the start for the Orioles tomorrow as Baltimore looks to take the rubber match of the series. He’ll face off against Will Warren with the first pitch set for 11:35AM ET.