Clarke Schmidt silences Twins with career-best outing as Yankees finish sweep

MINNEAPOLIS — Clarke Schmidt finally reached the promised land — otherwise known as seven complete innings — Thursday for the first time in his career.

Then he took a step into the unknown, the eighth inning, and breezed through it to check off that milestone while he was at it.

Schmidt tossed a career-high eight innings — eight scoreless innings at that — in a dominant start that finished off the Yankees’ sweep of the Twins with a 5-0 win at Target Field.

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The 28-year-old right-hander struck out eight, walked none and allowed only three hits across a career-high 103 pitches as the Yankees (30-15) won their fourth straight and for the 10th time in their last 12 games.

“Obviously you have to earn that right to stay in those games,” Schmidt said. “You gotta earn that right to be able to face lineups three times and earn that trust factor. That’s something I’m trying to do every time I go out there and make [Aaron Boone] feel comfortable giving me the ball in the sixth, seventh, eighth innings. Definitely a step in the right direction these past two starts.”

A road trip that began with Schmidt matching a career-high with 6 ²/₃ scoreless innings against the Rays last Friday ended with him being even better against the Twins (24-19), who had been MLB’s hottest team entering the series.

He had not completed six innings in any of his first seven starts of the season but has now done so in back-to-back outings, continuing to take the next step in his development as a starting pitcher.

Schmidt’s outing capped off a series in which the Yankees allowed just one run — a leadoff home run against Carlos Rodon in the series opener — while holding the Twins to a .144 average with four walks and 22 strikeouts.

The road trip overall included four scoreless outings by their starters, with the six starters combining for 38 innings and a 1.18 ERA.

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“That’s not an easy thing to do, to walk in here against a team playing as well as they are, and have that kind of success,” Boone said. “It makes for a really good road trip.”

After his previous start against the Rays, Schmidt had pledged to earn Boone’s trust in allowing him to pitch deeper into games and leave him no other choice. That came to fruition quickly on Thursday.

Coming into the game, seven of the 14 earned runs Schmidt had allowed this season came in the sixth inning, while opposing hitters had hit .400 facing him a third time in a game.

But Schmidt had no such issues Thursday, with the Twins going 1-for-9 the third time through the lineup and 0-for-3 the fourth time.

Still, though not surprisingly because of his confident and competitive nature, Schmidt was left wanting more.

While he stayed away from Boone in the dugout in the top of the seventh and eighth innings, he made a beeline for the manager after finishing the bottom of the eighth.

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“He came right to me, ‘Let me finish it, let me finish it!” Boone said with a grin. “I just think he wants to complete every game, shutout — that’s his expectation. I know it means a lot to him. But I also know he expects nothing less.”

Schmidt generated 16 whiffs while leaning on his cutter, a pitch that went through growing pains last year as he unveiled it, to attack the heavily left-handed lineup.

He also mixed in a strong curveball, sweeper and sinker to keep the Twins off-balance.

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The Yankees gave Schmidt a 3-0 lead to work with before he even stepped foot on the mound, including Anthony Volpe’s leadoff home run.

Schmidt struck out the first two batters he faced and was on his way to another significant day in his maturation as a starter.

“We needed it out of him,” said Aaron Judge, who added two more doubles a day after going 4-for-4 with three doubles and a homer. “It’s been so fun watching his progression over the past couple seasons. … I’m looking forward to more outings like today in the future.”