Yankees Shut Out as Angels Snag Narrow Victory: No Big Hits, No Breaks

The Yankees are coming off perhaps the worst series they could have had — a sweep in Fenway Park. They returned home for a four-game set against the Angels, a good opportunity to turn things around. They didn’t cash in on their chance, as they dropped a quiet heartbreaker, failing to come through on what was an excellent effort from Clarke Schmidt.

The action on offense was hard to come by in this one, as the scoreboard remained blank throughout much of the ballgame. Both Schmidt and José Soriano had some of their best stuff working on Monday night.

Clarke Schmidt faced the bulk of his trouble in the first inning when Zach Neto and Mike Trout both singled, but he was able to escape without any marks in the run column. The story was much the same for Soriano, who allowed ultimately harmless singles to Ben Rice and Aaron Judge in his first inning.

From that point on, the two talented righties matched each other quite well in their terrific outings. Jazz Chisholm Jr. doubled to lead off the second inning, but the Yankees couldn’t make anything of it. In the third, Schmidt worked a seamless 1-2-3, and Soriano did the same, racking up two of his six strikeouts in the bottom half.

An inning later, Giancarlo Stanton, making his long-awaited 2025 debut, tallied his first hit of the season with a single through the left side. It was a sight for sore eyes, though it was quickly erased when Jazz grounded into a double play.

Schmidt continued to roll through the Los Angeles lineup in this one, going 1-2-3 in the fifth, working around a Nolan Schanuel in the sixth, and going perfect again in the seventh. Unfortunately for the Bombers, Soriano was just as good against the Yankee lineup.

They had a pair of runners reach in the fifth, but Soriano navigated out of the jam with a strikeout of Rice. He managed a 1-2-3 sixth inning, and though Chisholm was once again able to get in scoring position in the seventh, a tough Austin Wells strikeout and a DJ LeMahieu groundout thwarted anything resembling a rally.

In the top half of the eighth, Christian Moore snuck a ball under the glove of a diving Judge in right field, which netted him a two-out triple. This chased Schmidt from the game, but Fernando Cruz was able to get out of the inning with a clutch K of Neto.

Schmidt finished with 7.2 scoreless innings, giving up four hits and striking out three. On the other side, Soriano was just as good, keeping things scoreless through seven innings, as he gave up six hits and struck out just as many in his very solid outing in the Bronx. Through eight innings this game was moving quick, and remained knotted up at 0-0 — ‘twas a good ol’ fashioned pitcher’s duel.

Devin Williams came on to keep it that way for the top of the ninth, and though Trout and Jorge Soler both singled, he was able to do just that, though it didn’t come without some nail-biting.

The stage was set in the bottom of the ninth for the Yankees. Giancarlo Stanton, playing in his first game of the season, led things off against Kenley Jansen and laced a ball down the left field line for a double, finishing off a great return for the DH. Jasson Domínguez pinch-ran for the heavy-footed slugger, and almost immediately ran into some brutal luck. With one out, Anthony Volpe rolled over a ball to the third baseman Luis Rengifo, which just so happened to meet a would-be base-stealer in Domínguez in time for Rengifo to record the out. It was a major rally killer, and the inning ended with another Wells K. It was on to extras in the Bronx.

Jonathan Loáisiga was up next out of the Yankee ‘pen, and he did as well as Aaron Boone and company could have asked for, as a pair of Ks and a fly out put the Bombers in prime position for the bottom of the tenth. With the free runner 180 feet away from a Yankee win, LeMahieu failed to produce with a weak wave-and-a-miss at strike three, before a couple of teasing fly balls from Trent Grisham and Paul Goldschmidt closed the inning.

At long last, a run was scored in the 11th inning, just not by the Yankees. After Loáisiga recorded the first out on a failed bunt attempt, Schanuel weakly poked a ball, insultingly where Volpe had just hit his, except this one snuck into left field as the weak swing gave L.A. the first lead of the game.

Down 1-0 headed into their half of the 11th inning, the Yankees had their work cut out for them. After Judge was intentionally walked, Cody Bellinger nearly sent the Stadium into a frenzy, but the ball simply wasn’t carrying on Monday, and it was caught at the warning track in right field. The inning on the whole was about as frustrating as it gets. Goldy was tagged out at home on a weak ball in the infield, and Anthony Volpe ultimately unceremoniously put a wrap on this game, when he softly rolled over to third base on the first pitch he saw with the bases loaded.

This stretch of Yankee baseball can be comfortably be filed in the No Fun folder. Not only are the bats somewhere between quiet and deafeningly silent, the breaks are simply not going their way. They’ll hope to break out of the funk with three more games at home against the middling Angels.

Box Score