Clarke Schmidt pitched the game of his life last weekend against the Baltimore Orioles. As the Yankees looked to get the bad taste of the night before out of their mouths, the offense exploded early and gave Schmidt plenty of room to work. When the dust settled, he had tossed seven no-hit innings on a warm June day in the Bronx.

Just one problem: he had tied a career high with 103 pitches. With two innings to go and thinking long term, Aaron Boone went to the bullpen with the no-hitter intact, only for JT Brubaker to allow a leadoff single to Gary Sanchez that ended the threat. Even then, a controversial check swing led to that lone hit in the eighth, and Brubaker shrugged off the disappointment to finish off a 9-0 one-hitter.

The real controversy, though, was pulling Schmidt. Both Boone and Schmidt faced questions, but it doesn’t seem that Clarke fought him all that much:

“Obviously I want to go as deep as I can, but when you’re at the 103 mark and you have two more innings to go and you have 80 more games to go, you’ve got to think bigger picture here”

– Clarke Schmidt on not finishing out today’s game after pitching seven no-hit innings: pic.twitter.com/X9SZcBPtg0

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) June 21, 2025

Only 21 combined no-hitters have been thrown in MLB history, and none of them came from the Yankees. Both Domingo Germán and Corey Kluber got to finish their perfect game/no-no in 2023 and 2021, respectively, but neither threw more than Schmidt’s 103 through 7.

It was discussed at length during the broadcast. Schmidt was going to have to blow past a previous career high in pitches to finish this game off. Through six innings, Schmidt was at 84 pitches and it was clear his chances of going the distance were in jeopardy. Despite a clean 1-2-3 seventh, he managed to throw 19 pitches in a frame where he was all over the place. He fell behind Ryan O’Hearn 3-0 in an eventual eight-pitch AB, was battled to six pitches against Ramon Laureano, and Colton Cowser didn’t swing until the sixth pitch of his at-bat. Baltimore wasn’t aggressive, Schmidt didn’t throw enough strikes, and that was that.

There’s also the specific context of the pitcher. Schmidt missed several months last season with a lat strain and started this year on the injured list due to rotator cuff tendinitis. In the past, he’s undergone Tommy John surgery in college and missed half of 2021 with an extensor strain in his elbow. As much as he’s been sneakily one of the best starters in the American League when healthy the last two seasons, Schmidt is a health concern and the Yankees are not going to push him in a mid-June start where the team is rolling to an victory. And the argument for not pushing him gained even more (retroactive) credence on Wednesday.

Schmidt was already lined up to start with extra rest tomorrow against the Athletics in an encore to his brilliance, but he’s now being pushed back an extra day due to not recovering as well as the Yankees had hoped after his start. After throwing a career-high 103 pitches, it’s not totally out of nowhere. It’s not even the first time this season that Schmidt has seen his start pushed back.

Yankees are using the off day to flip Clarke Schmidt and Will Warren. Schmidt will get an extra day of rest and start Saturday after his recovery has been a little slower between his last two starts. Warren will start Friday.

— Greg Joyce (@GJoyce9) June 25, 2025

If Max Fried or Carlos Rodón (except on days like Tuesday) had a no-hitter through seven, you let them go. Fried has exceeded 100 pitches on eight different occasions this season. He has six career complete games and four career shutouts, tied for tenth and tied for sixth respectively. Rodón has thrown 100+ on six different occasions and has pushed himself to 114 pitches in 2021 for a no-hitter with the White Sox. These two are vets.

Could Schmidt have done it if he stayed in? Maybe! But, the risk of arm fatigue or even worse, an actual injury, is too great with a younger, more injury-prone starter like this. Although even Gerrit Cole proved prior to this season that injuries can happen to even the healthiest-looking pitchers, it is well-established that if you also happen to have a spotty medical history, then you are already a little more susceptible to injury. That unfortunately describes Schmidt, so the Yankees have to be cautious with high hopes for his 2025 results.

The feather in your cap of throwing a no-hitter is, in this case, not worth the risk surrounding it. Maybe one day, Schmidt can get to that point, but not right now, not with his injury history or the injuries his team his dealing with right now.