KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The playoffs came at Clarke Schmidt fast.
One moment, Schmidt was cruising, having retired 13 of the first 16 batters he faced to move one out away from being eligible for the win in the biggest game of the Yankees season.
The next, he was on the bench, hoping that Clay Holmes could save him from being on the hook for a loss.
What happened in between?
An infield single, an RBI double and an RBI triple — all with two outs.
Schmidt mostly seized his opportunity but settled for the no-decision Wednesday in Game 3 of the ALDS as the Yankees bullpen finished off a well-pitched 3-2 win against the Royals.
“That’s the playoffs,” Schmidt said. “You give them an inch, they’ll take a mile. I think the momentum swings are a major thing here, especially on the road when the crowd gets involved.”
It was a less drastic version of what happened to teammate Carlos Rodon in Game 2, who went from in control to allowing four runs on four hits in the fourth inning of a loss.
Schmidt struck out four and allowed four hits and one walk on 71 pitches in 4 ²/₃ innings.
“I thought Clarke was excellent,” Boone said. “He was really in control of what he was doing. His stuff was good. His execution for the most part was good. Just not able to quite finish off that inning, but he gave us what we needed.”
Schmidt’s three-batter hiccup started against the bottom of the order, when Adam Frazier reached on a soft single.
He was one strike away from preserving a 2-0 lead before Kyle Isbel doubled just fair into the left-field corner, and Michael Massey tripled on a ball just out of the reach of a diving Juan Soto.
Holmes rescued Schmidt by stranding runners on the corners and kicking off a 13-out gem from the bullpen.
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“You’re aware of how high stress every pitch is and that you don’t really have too long of a leash,” Schmidt said. “So I think there is power in that — trying to come out hot and put up as many zeros as you can in a short span of time.”
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Boone made the decision to go with Schmidt, who had a 2.85 ERA in 16 starts during the injury-disrupted best season of his career, over Luis Gil in Game 3.
Schmidt struggled out of the bullpen in the 2022 playoffs but looked comfortable starting.
