The New York Yankees are getting a lift from Jasson Dominguez’s glove and bat to go along with strong starting pitching in their two wins over the Kansas City Royals.
The host Yankees are curious to see if Dominguez can produce another big night and how Clarke Schmidt looks in his season debut on Wednesday night.
New York is attempting to sweep a series for the second time this season after rallying from an early two-run deficit to earn a 4-2 victory on Tuesday. Dominguez delivered his tiebreaking double with the bases loaded from the right side of the plate in the sixth inning off left-handed reliever Angel Zerpa.
Dominguez is hitting .275 this season and is 6-for-12 over his past four games after tying a career high with three hits and setting a career best with three RBIs on Tuesday. Dominguez’s big game at the plate occurred after he made several nice plays in left field, and he would have remained in Tuesday’s game if he did not lose his contact lenses.
“He never seems panicked or rushed and that’s one of the things you always like about him,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “So you know the situation is not too big for him.”
Schmidt will make his season debut after missing New York’s first 17 games with rotator cuff tendinitis. He was 5-5 with a 2.85 ERA last season when he was limited to 16 starts and 85 1/3 innings because of a lat strain that cost him three months.
The right-hander was injured early in spring training and is returning after throwing 7 1/3 scoreless innings in a pair of rehab starts for Double-A Somerset.
“We’re counting on Clarke,” Boone said Tuesday afternoon. We expect a lot from Clarke now. Guys like Clarke are always continuing to improve too, but we have a lot of confidence in what he brings and how good a pitcher he is and has become.”
Schmidt is 2-0 with a 3.29 ERA in four career appearances (two starts) against Kansas City.
The Royals will face Schmidt after mustering a combined seven hits in the first two games. Bobby Witt Jr. has three hits in the series and is 11-for-26 (.440) during an eight-game hitting streak, but the Royals are 2-5 over their past seven games and were held to three runs or fewer for the 11th time.
“I know what we are capable of doing,” Witt said earlier this week. “It’s just a matter of time,”
The Royals hope their offense can click while they get a strong outing from Kris Bubic (2-1, 0.96).
Bubic pitched six scoreless innings in his season debut March 31 at Milwaukee and allowed one run in his first 12 2/3 innings before allowing three runs (two earned) on six hits in a 7-0 loss to the Cleveland Guardians on Friday.
Bubic is 0-2 with a 3.45 ERA in five career appearances (two starts) against the Yankees.
–Field Level Media
