Sports

Yankees win 5-0 to sweep Twins

baseball player hits
New York Yankees' Alex Verdugo hits a sacrifice fly against the Minnesota Twins in the seventh inning of a baseball game Thursday in Minneapolis.
Bruce Kluckhohn | AP

Clarke Schmidt cruised to a career-long eight shutout innings after Anthony Volpe led off the game with a home run that sparked a three-run first inning, and the New York Yankees finished a three-game sweep with a 5-0 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Thursday.

Schmidt (5-1) scattered a double and two singles without a walk while striking out eight batters and winning his third consecutive start.

The 2017 first-round draft pick, who has allowed three runs or fewer in each of his nine starts this season, lowered his ERA from 2.95 to 2.49 while throwing a career-high 103 pitches. His previous long was 6 2/3 innings, matched in his most recent outing at Tampa Bay on Friday.

Gleyber Torres hit two doubles and drove in a run, and Anthony Rizzo, Austin Wells and Alex Verdugo also had RBIs for the Yankees (30-15), who have won 11 of their last 14 games and have the second-best record in the major leagues behind Philadelphia.