MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Clarke Schmidt cruised to a career-long eight shutout innings after Anthony Volpe led off the game with a home run that sparked a three-run first inning, and the New York Yankees finished a three-game sweep with a 5-0 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Thursday.
Schmidt (5-1) scattered a double and two singles without a walk while striking out eight batters and winning his third consecutive start.
The 2017 first-round draft pick, who has allowed three runs or fewer in each of his nine starts this season, lowered his ERA from 2.95 to 2.49 while throwing a career-high 103 pitches. His previous long was 6 2/3 innings, matched in his most recent outing at Tampa Bay on Friday.
Gleyber Torres hit two doubles and drove in a run, and Anthony Rizzo, Austin Wells and Alex Verdugo also had RBIs for the Yankees (30-15), who have won 11 of their last 14 games and have the second-best record in the Major Leagues behind Philadelphia.
Aaron Judge hit two more rockets for doubles and went 2-for-3 with a walk after going 4 for 4 with a walk on Wednesday night. He had half as many hits in the series as the Twins, whose streak of six straight series won came to a crashing end while being outscored 14-1 and outhit 35-14 by the Yankees.
Even the outs were hit hard by Judge, whose long fly to center went 409 feet to the warning track ending the fifth. The ball would have been a home run in 18 of 30 ballparks, according to MLB Statcast.
The outfield defense was shaky all week for the Twins (24-19) Alex Kirilloff misplayed a line drive by Torres in the first that glanced off his glove at the warning track as Judge came around to score.
Twins starter Joe Ryan (2-3) lasted 5 1/3 innings with four runs allowed on six hits and one walk while striking out five.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Yankees: 3B D.J. LeMahieu will resume his rehab assignment with Double-A Somerset on Friday. The three-time All-Star has been sidelined all season after and breaking his right foot on a foul ball in Spring Training on March 16. His first rehab assignment was halted by soreness after one inning on April 23.
Twins: CF Byron Buxton was slated to play again for Triple-A St. Paul on Thursday, likely the final step before he returns from the right knee inflammation that has kept him out of the last 13 games.
UP NEXT
Yankees: LHP Nestor Cortes (1-4, 4.02 ERA) pitches in Chicago on Friday night to begin a three-game series. RHP Mike Clevinger (0-1, 5.40 ERA) starts for the White Sox.
Twins: RHP Simeon Woods Richardson (1-0, 3.24 ERA) takes the mound in Cleveland on Friday night to start a three-game series. RHP Triston McKenzie (2-3, 3.54 ERA) pitches for the Guardians.