‘A big blessing for me’: Former Gamecock Clarke Schmidt earns first MLB victory
Former South Carolina pitcher Clarke Schmidt picked up his first career win in the major leagues Tuesday night.
Schmidt allowed two hits in 3.1 innings and struck out a career-high six batters to earn the victory in the New York Yankees’ 4-2 win over the Detroit Tigers.
“It means the world to me,” Schmidt told reporters after the game. “A lot of work has gone into this. To be able to get my first career win here is a very, very special moment, something I don’t take lightly. It’s a big blessing for me.
“Like I said, a lot of work has gone into it and you’ve seen the injuries and stuff like that, to be able to come back from that and feel as good as I do right now, being able to string together some good outings early on in the season and have some success and hopefully continue to keep that going throughout the season is a blessing. So, I’m just very thankful to be able to do that tonight.”
Schmidt entered the game in the second inning to relieve Garrett Cole, who lasted just 1.2 innings. He came in with the bases loaded and struck out Jonathan Schoop to end the threat.
“Huge, huge,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Even with the off day yesterday, still a few guys we’re staying away from, so we needed that length from him today. For him to go out and to, obviously, get us out of that jam there in the second inning, and then get us through the middle innings was a big effort for him.
“Excited for him picking up his first win, but it was a huge effort and kind of let us set up the ‘pen in the back half of the game how we hoped. But we needed that effort out of him tonight.”
Tuesday was Schmidt’s eighth appearance for the Yankees and third this season. He was selected No. 16 overall coming out of South Carolina in the 2017 MLB Draft. He was 4-2 with a 1.34 ERA in nine starts, and opponents hit .194 against him, during his final season at South Carolina. He missed the second half of that season after having Tommy John surgery.
Schmidt, who made his MLB debut in 2020, has been bothered by injuries on and off during his professional career and missed most of last season with an elbow injury before coming back and getting called back up to the Yankees.
This year, Schmidt showed increased velocity and topped out at 96 mph during spring training last month and earned a spot on the Yankees’ roster.
