Yankees takeaways from Saturday's 7-5 loss to Giants, including Clarke Schmidt's mixed cutter and costly fourth inning

Clarke Schmidt couldn’t hold an early lead and a ninth-inning rally came up short Saturday as the Yankees lost to the San Francisco Giants, 7-5, at Yankee Stadium.

The Yanks trailed by three entering the final frame and crept within two thanks to an RBI single by Aaron Judge, but Giancarlo Stanton hit into a double play with the bases loaded to end the game with rain coming down in the Bronx.

The game-ending play was reviewed, but the call stood.

Schmidt, one of the pitchers called into service in the rotation after the Yankees were hit by several injuries before the season even started, did not get out of the fourth inning. Carlos Rodón likely would have started the second game of the season had he been healthy, but the lefty, signed over the winter to serve as a second ace behind Gerrit Cole, is hurt. So, too, are Luis Severino and Frankie Montas.

Schmidt, a 27-year-old righty, who was the 16th overall in the 2017 draft, allowed three runs and five hits in 3.1 innings as the Yanks fell to 1-1.

Here are the takeaways:

- Schmidt flashed his new cutter several times during his outing, and it’s got potential as an effective pitch -- it dipped nicely under Michael Conforto’s bat for a first-inning strikeout, for instance -- but Schmidt wobbled in the fourth inning and the Giants knocked him out of the game. First, he gave up a solo homer to Joc Pederson in a 10-pitch battle that cut the Yanks’ lead to 2-1. Mike Yastrzemski followed with a double inside the first-base line and, one out later, Brandon Crawford pounced on a 3-0 cutter by Schmidt and whacked it over the wall in right, giving San Francisco a 3-2 lead. Schmidt threw 76 pitches (49 strikes) and struck out five while walking one.

- The Yankees took a 1-0 lead in the first inning thanks to some San Francisco charity. With one out, Judge singled and then Anthony Rizzo walked on a 3-2 pitch. Stanton hit an easy comebacker to Giants starter Alex Cobb, which seemed tailor-made for a double-play to kill the inning, but Cobb threw the ball into center field and Judge trotted home on the error. However, Cobb rallied to fan Josh Donaldson and Gleyber Torres to evade further damage.

- Stanton upped the Yanks’ lead to 2-0 in the third inning with his first home run of the season, a laser liner into the right-field stands that traveled 112 miles per hour off the bat and went 370 feet.

- The Yankees tied the score at 3-3 in the fifth inning -- thanks, in part, to another break. DJ LeMahieu lofted what looked like a routine fly ball to center leading off, but Yastrzemski lost the ball in the sun -- even though he was wearing sunglasses. The ball went over his head and LeMahieu got a double. Judge followed with a single and then Rizzo doubled to right, knocking in a run. But reliever Jakob Junis retired Stanton, Donaldson and Torres and the Yankees could not tack on.

- In the sixth, the Giants went ahead again. They loaded the bases on a single by David Villar, a double by Crawford and a hit by pitch. One out later, Wade checked his swing and topped the ball in front of the plate. Pitcher Michael King and catcher Jose Trevino both went for the ball and, in the confusion, Wade had an RBI on an infield single. The ball was hit at an exit velocity of 37.3 miles per hour, according to MLB’s Baseball Savant. One out after that, Thairo Estrada hit a grounder to short that seemed to have significant spin on it. Volpe slipped while adjusting his feet to field the ball and had to try for a force at second. All runners were safe and this second infield single bumped the Giants lead to 5-3.

- In the eighth, Donaldson smashed a high drive over the left-field wall off reliever Taylor Rogers for his first home run of the season. The longball trimmed the Giants’ lead to 5-4.

- The Yanks brought in Clay Holmes in the ninth inning to give him some work and the Giants extended the lead against one of the pitchers likely to be used as the club’s closer this season. But Holmes was not crisp and could not complete the frame. In two-thirds of an inning, Holmes gave up two runs and three hits as the Giants extended their lead to 7-4.

- Anthony Volpe, the Yanks’ talented new shortstop who already seems like a darling of the Yankee Stadium crowd, got the first hit of his MLB career in the second inning. He swatted a 1-2 breaking ball from Cobb past a diving Crawford and into left field. Volpe promptly stole second base, giving him a steal in each of his first two MLB games. In the ninth inning, Volpe blistered a shot up the middle for a single and hit No. 2.

- The Yanks made things uncomfortable for Giants’ closer Camilo Doval in the ninth and he didn’t help himself, getting two pitch-clock violations for automatic balls, and walking two batters who didn’t even get the free count advantage. But with Stanton looking to be a hero, Doval got a crucial ground ball, ending the game.

Highlights

What's next

The Yankees (1-1) and Giants (1-1) return to Yankee Stadium for Sunday's 1:35 p.m. rubber match of the three-game series. New York's Johny Brito and San Francisco's Ross Stripling are the probable pitchers.