Yankees manage just five hits in shutout loss to Guardians at the Stadium

One bad inning sunk Clarke Schmidt’s outing Wednesday night.

But it was nine bad innings at the plate that ended up sinking the Yankees, who were completely handcuffed by Luis Ortiz and Cleveland’s typically excellent bullpen in a dreary 4-0 loss to the Guardians in front of 36,759 at the Stadium.

The Yankees (37-23), who beat the Guardians, 3-2, in the first game of the series, were held to five hits, two of those coming in the ninth.

“I thought we got pitched pretty tough,” Aaron Boone said. “We just didn’t have a great night. It happens.”

Schmidt (2-3, 4.04 ERA) allowed three first-inning runs and nothing else in 5 2⁄3 innings. He struck out eight.

But that was more than enough damage done as Ortiz threw 5 2⁄3 dominant innings and three relievers took care of the rest.

Ortiz, 2-6 with a 4.40 ERA this season entering the night, including a loss April 23 to the Yankees in Cleveland when he allowed four runs and five hits over 4 1⁄3 innings, allowed three hits and three walks Wednesday. The righthander struck out seven.

“He’s throwing that slider a lot to both righties and lefties,” said Ben Rice, who had two hits. “It seemed like he was able to kind of manipulate the way it was moving a little bit on guys, and was changing speeds pretty well. I think that made his fastball even more effective.”

After lefthander Tim Herrin threw a scoreless 1 1⁄3 innings, righty Hunter Gaddis threw a perfect eighth.

Closer Emmanuel Clase, whom the Yankees beat up during last October’s ALCS and who got off to a rough start this season, added a bit of drama — though not that much — in the ninth, a non-save chance as Kyle Manzardo’s homer in the eighth off Fernando Cruz made it 4-0.

Rice led off the ninth with an infield single and Aaron Judge (2-for-4) struck out. Cody Bellinger dumped an opposite-field double down the leftfield line, but Paul Goldschmidt took a 100-mph cutter for a called third strike and Jazz Chisholm Jr. struck out swinging at a slider to end it.

The Guardians (33-27) had 12 hits, the biggest of those coming from the second batter of the game.

Steven Kwan led off the first with a walk and Angel Martinez jumped a first-pitch, 92-mph cutter and drove it 394 feet into the seats in right for his fourth homer.

Schmidt got ahead of Jose Ramirez 0-and-2, but the third baseman smoked a 1-and-2, 94-mph cutter into the corner in right for a double. Ramirez took third on Carlos Santana’s flyout to right and Schmidt appeared as if he’d strand him when Manzardo flied to short left for the second out. But Daniel Schneemann, who had a pinch-hit RBI single Tuesday night, ripped a 2-and-2 curveball into the rightfield corner for an RBI double that made it 3-0.

“I think the [key] to the outing was first AB walking Kwan and then got ambushed trying to throw a strike,” Schmidt said. “[Martinez] put a good swing on it and hit a homer and the rest was history.”

Of the adjustments he made to get into the sixth after the rough 26-pitch first, Schmidt said: “It was pretty obvious in the first they were trying to hunt the cutters in, the sweepers in, the curveballs in and they were putting really good swings on them, so credit to them. Really good approach from those guys, especially at the top of the order.

“After that, it was like, ‘All right, how can we get the ball away from them, throw a few more fastballs away?’ I felt like we were getting to good areas after that.”

The Yankees, who stranded a combined four runners over the first three innings, managed just two innings in which they put a runner in scoring position — the third and the ninth. They hit into three double plays, two by Anthony Volpe.

“We just didn’t mount much offensively tonight,” Boone said. “A pretty slow night for us offensively.”

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.