Clarke Schmidt responded well to the worst start of his season.
Five days after he failed to make it out of the third inning against the Braves, he limited the Red Sox to two earned runs over 5 ²/₃ innings in the Yankees’ 6-5 loss in The Bronx.
Schmidt allowed a solo homer to Yankees killer Rafael Devers in the first and Devers scored in the sixth on Anthony Volpe’s throwing error.
Otherwise, Boston could do very little against the right-hander.
This marked the 15th time in his last 16 outings that Schmidt has held the opposition to three earned runs or less.
He struck out eight on Sunday, equaling a career-high.
He walked two and gave up four hits, two to Devers.
“Besides a few batters there, I felt for the most part we were really getting to our locations and really kind of executing what we set out to do today,” Schmidt said. “You got to give credit to Devers. He’s a special player and obviously he’s seeing the ball really well right now.
“Other than a few ABs with Devers, for the most part it was really good today.”
Schmidt went to the knuckle-curve more than he has most of the season.
Typically, he uses the pitch 18.4 percent of the time, but on Sunday it was up to 30 percent.
He threw it 29 times to Boston hitters and got six swings and misses on it.
“We just wanted to mix it up a little bit, the usage [of my pitches], and try to be a little bit more unpredictable today,” he said.
Manager Aaron Boone met with owner Hal Steinbrenner and general manager Brian Cashman a few days ago, and described them as “frustrated.”
“We understand we’re in a tough spot and it’s not going well,” Boone said. “We’re in the business of trying to fix it and trying to [determine] what are the best moves moving forward for us to try and get us on track.”
The three discussed the potential of minor league call-ups prior to Sept. 1, but it remains unclear if that will happen.
“I think it’s possible,” Boone said.
The sit-down wasn’t abnormal, it should be noted. The three periodically meet to discuss the state of the team.
The Yankees were swept at home for the first time since dropping all four games of a series to the Blue Jays on Sept. 6-9, 2021. … Four of Volpe’s last five homers have either tied a game or given the Yankees the lead. His 17 homers are the most by a Yankees shortstop since Gleyber Torres hit 38 in 2019, although Torres split time between shortstop and second base that year. … Aaron Judge extended his on-base streak to 13 games.