About Last Night: NYY 4, KCR 3

By Ethan Semendinger

April 17th, 2025

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It's always great to wake up in the morning the day after a sweep...but only when you're favorite team is the one who did the sweeping.

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Quick Stats -

• Winning Pitcher: Mark Leiter Jr. (2-1, 3.52 ERA)

• Losing Pitcher: John Schreiber (1-1, 3.86 ERA)

• Save: Fernando Cruz (1)

• Home Runs (Kansas City): N/A

• Home Runs (New York): Aaron Judge (7)

Big Story - The number one early storyline with the Yankees this season isn't the offense. It isn't how amazing Aaron Judge is, or the emergence of Ben Rice, or Anthony Volpe figuring out the offensive side of baseball, or Jasson Dominguez getting his chance to showcase why he signed for $5 Million as a 16-year-old.

The number one story is the lack of starting pitching depth. After Max Fried, the Yankees look lost...or, at least they did, if you're being optimistic. Carlos Carrasco just had a good outing on Monday. Carlos Rodon could come back to a good form (I hope). Will Warren is a rookie who could slowly start to improve with each new experience in the MLB. And, now Clarke Schmidt is coming back to replace an injured Marcus Stroman.

Fried-Rodon-Schmidt-Carrasco-Warren isn't the shut-down mega rotation that the Yankees will need for a World Series run. BUT, it could do just fine to keep the Yankees competitive in most of their games throughout the regular season.

(And, if you're super optimistic, maybe Luis Gil comes back to continue his form to continue his greatest from his Rookie of the Year winning season last year. Then, this team may not be looking so bad in the rotation.)

Regardless, the first of those steps in the right direction is back, and here was the Yankees line-up for last night to play behind Clarke Schmidt:

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Player(s) of the Game -

• Aaron Judge: 3-3, 2 Runs, Solo Home Run, Double, 1 RBI, 1 BB

Notable Performances -

• Clarke Schmidt: 5.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R (3 ER), 2 BB's, 2 K's

• Mark Leiter Jr.: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB's, 2 K's, WIN!

• Fernando Cruz: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K's, SAVE!

• Paul Goldschmidt: 1-3, 1 BB (+ Great Defense)

• Jazz Chisholm: 1-2, Run, 1 BB

• Anthony Volpe: 1-4, 2 RBI's, 2 K's

• Cody Bellinger: 1-4, Double, 1 RBI (+ Game-Ending Catch in Right!)

Better to Forget -

• Austin Wells: 0-4, 1 K (+1 Caught Stealing)

• Trent Grisham: 0-4, 1 K

• Jasson Dominguez: 0-3, 1 BB, 3 K's (+ Baserunning Blunder)

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The Game - For today's game summary, I'm going to give a brief synopsis, going half-inning by half-inning.

Top of the First:

Clarke Schmidt took the mound for his 2025 season debut for the Yankees, finishing his coming back from a shoulder injury (rotator cuff tendonitis) that kept him from most of spring training. And, immediately, he started to get hit around between a hard-hit flyout, a Bobby Witt line drive single, a Salvador Perez RBI single, and a long fly out. Luckily, the Royals didn't too much damage, but they did take a 1-0 lead early.

Bottom of the First:

Paul Goldschmidt worked a walk (and then was replaced on the bases by Cody Bellinger on a weak fielders choice groundball) as Aaron Judge collected a 1-out single and Jazz Chisholm collected a bloop single to load the bases. However, the Yankees were unable to bring home a run to quickly respond.

Top of the Second:

Clarke Schmidt worked a 1-2-3 inning getting a flyout, groundout, and groundout against Kansas City's 7, 8, and 9 hitters. Who it was doesn't matter. Outs are outs.

Bottom of the Second:

...and the Yankees' number 7, 8, and 9 hitters also went down 1-2-3, except by groundout, strikeout, and strikeout.

Top of the Third:

Clarke Schmidt is BACK! He worked another 1-2-3 inning, this time against Kansas City's number 1-2-3 hitters via flyout, flyout, and groundout. The Yankees rotation may be saved (partially). And, no, this is not an overreaction.

Bottom of the Third:

Aaron Judge is just so great. It's truly remarkable, and this season it is really hitting me that we are watching an all-time great at his craft. I've always been a Judge fan, but this year he's really been showing how complete of a player he is. He doubled this inning, Jazz Chisholm walked, and then Anthony Volpe brought home both on a nice line drive to left. Yankees 2, Royals 1.

Top of the Fourth:

1, 2, 3 go the Royals for the third inning in a row!

Bottom of the Fourth:

The Yankees come through for the second inning in a row with a 2-out rally. This time, Oswald Peraza and Paul Goldschmidt hit back-to-back singles for Cody Bellinger to drive in Peraza with a double. (Yankees 3, Royals 1.) Judge was then intentionally walked to load the bases (and create a force), but Jazz Chisholm took the first pitch and hit an easy pop fly to end the threat.

Top of the Fifth:

Maybe I got a bit too excited about Schmidt, because the Royals started to hit off him again. Drew Walter hit a lead-off single before he was brought in on a Kyle Isbel RBI-triple, who was then brought in on a Jonathan India RBI-groundout to tie the game up at 3 apiece. Still, this is a great showing in his first start back.

Bottom of the Fifth:

1, 2, 3 go the Yankees...darnit.

Top of the Sixth:

After working back-to-back groundouts, Clarke Schmidt walked Maikel Garcia and was pulled. It was the right move, as Schmidt went a solid 5.2 IP while keeping the Yankees in the game. Very good job. Meanwhile, Mark Leiter got out of the sixth inning easy after Maikel Garcia was caught stealing with a great throw by Austin Wells that led to an Anthony Volpe tag to the face! Talk about adding injury to insult.

Bottom of the Sixth:

Who blew it? Jasson Dominguez did. After working a lead-off walk, Dominguez tried to stroll into second base on a soft Oswald Peraza groundball. Meanwhile, the Royals second baseman made (the wrong) play and tried to get the lead-runner (Dominguez) at second...except it turned out to work. A bad job by Dominguez there, but a learning moment. Blew a chance at two runners on with no outs. Darnit.

Top of the Seventh:

Mark Leiter stayed out for the 7th after only throwing 1 pitch in the sixth. He successfully worked through the Royals, collecting 2 strikeouts in a 1-2-3 inning.

Bottom of the Seventh:

Aaron Judge is just so great. It's just truly remarkable. After 10 homer-less games, Judge put one into the Yankees bullpen in right field to retake the lead. (Yankees 4, Royals 3.) Jazz Chisholm then got immediately plunked by the new pitcher in the game (it was unintentional), and the Yankees didn't do anything else.

Top of the Eighth:

Fernando Cruz replaced Mark Leiter (in hopes of giving Weaver and Williams the day off) and he also worked a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts. I really like Cruz, and I think the Yankees made a very good deal here.

Bottom of the Eighth:

The Royals brought in another new pitcher, and the Yankees' number 7-8-9 hitters went down 1-2-3 for the second time in the game.

Top of the Ninth:

Fernando Cruz stayed in the game for the ninth and allowed a lead-off single to Vinnie Pasquantino. Luckily, Salvador Perez followed that up with a groundball that led to an easy double play. Then, Cruz walked Maikel Garcia. (How funny would it have been if Garcia got caught stealing with a face-tag to end the game?) Oh, that's a wild pitch. Garcia's now in scoring position. Oh, no. MJ Melendez just hit a hard line drive into right field. Bellinger's going after it. Bellinger's tripping over himself. Bellinger...CAUGHT THE BALL TO SAVE THE GAME!

YANKEES WIN! YANKEES SWEEP THE ROYALS!

*Theme from New York, New York plays*

Goodnight, everybody!

(or, Good Morning, when you're reading this!)

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Next Up - The Yankees will begin a 4 game long-weekend series against the Tampa Bay Rays tonight at Yankee Stadium South (George M. Steinbrenner Field), starting at 7:05 PM (EDT) on Amazon Prime. The Yankees will send Will Warren (1-0, 5.14 ERA) to the mound against Taj Bradley (2-0, 3.71 ERA).