Umpire's botched call (naturally) ruins Yankees' no-hit bid vs. Orioles for Clarke Schmidt

Yankees fans might have booed Aaron Boone's decision to yank Clarke Schmidt from Saturday afternoon's start against the Orioles entering the eighth inning, no-hitter still intact, but ... that was an easy one. Schmidt had matched his season high with 103 pitches. He hasn't exactly been the picture of durability throughout his career. His first inning was his worst, and the elevated pitch count - nearly 30 - was self-inflicted, brought upon by walks. His final inning featured enough foul balls to spark worry.

Removing Schmidt was the correct call. Bringing in JT Brubaker for his first MLB appearance since 2022 ... was a call with a 9-0 game, and not a no-hit bid, in mind.

The only purely incorrect call here was what the umpiring crew conspired to do was lead off the eighth.

With Gary Sánchez at the plate - of course! - Brubaker bounced a 2-2 breaking ball, which Sánchez went nearly 2/3 of the way around on. After an appeal to first - with two umpires both shaking in their boots given their sudden role in potential history - Sánchez was awarded another pitch.

He ripped a single up the middle.

Yankees' Clarke Schmidt, JT Brubaker denied first combined no-hitter in franchise history after botched umpire call on Gary Sánchez

Let's take a look at that check swing from a side angle, shall we?

Not nearly as cut-and-dried as last week's DJ LeMahieu "double" at Fenway Park ... or last night's DJ LeMahieu "out" call at the plate ... but pretty obviously botched.

At least this one never reached the replay review center, which is clearly more concerned these days with not embarrassing the umpires who made the "call on the field" rather than getting the call right.

Boone will be questioned for his preemptive strike in the postgame, but the Yankees need wins. What they don't need is to overextend an increasingly gassed Schmidt in mid-June for a (still pretty minimal) shot at history.

It's a shame it isn't 1996 anymore. Winning the World Series ruled. But it isn't, and Schmidt of all pitchers wasn't conditioned to go the distance here. The umpires played the role of the fates and intervened in the end to shut us all up anyway.