Cam Schlittler gave the Yankees the kind of October start that settles a clubhouse early. New York opened its American League Wild Card Series against Boston with a 9-0 win Tuesday night, and while the final margin got loud in the late innings, Schlittler was the man who kept the game in the Yankees’ hands while it was still a 2-0 contest.
Schlittler owns the early innings
- Schlittler worked 6 1/3 scoreless innings, striking out 10 Red Sox hitters in Game 1.
- The Yankees carried only a two-run lead into the bottom of the seventh before the offense turned the night into a rout.
- New York finished with a 9-0 victory and moved within one win of advancing from the Wild Card Series.
- Game 2 is scheduled for Wednesday night at 8 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.
The right-hander has made a habit of making Boston uncomfortable in the postseason. One year earlier, in a decisive Wild Card Game 3, Schlittler threw eight shutout innings against the Red Sox and punched out 12. His latest outing was shorter, but it carried the same edge: no runs, double-digit strikeouts and no real opening for Boston to change the game.
A growing October résumé
Schlittler now has two postseason starts of at least 10 strikeouts without allowing a run. Only six pitchers in postseason history have done that more than once: Justin Verlander, who has three, plus Sandy Koufax, Kevin Brown, Randy Johnson, Cliff Lee and Schlittler. He is the first Yankees pitcher in that group.
His two career 10-strikeout postseason games also match the Yankees franchise high. Orlando Hernandez, Bob Turley, Roger Clemens and Mike Mussina are the other New York pitchers with two such games.
There is another small, sharp detail to his October work. Schlittler has started three postseason games, and two of them have produced 10 or more strikeouts. Stephen Strasburg is the only other pitcher to record at least two double-digit strikeout games within his first three career playoff appearances.
Boston has seen this before
Both of Schlittler’s 10-strikeout postseason performances have come against the Red Sox. Among the 56 pitchers who have made multiple postseason starts against Boston, only Schlittler and Bob Gibson have struck out at least 10 Red Sox hitters twice.
The dominance has not been limited to October. Across six starts against Boston, postseason included, Schlittler has allowed two earned runs. His 0.47 ERA is the lowest posted by a pitcher in his first six career starts against the Red Sox, including playoff games, since earned runs became an official statistic in 1913.
At his age, the outing placed him in still another select group. Schlittler is the fourth pitcher to own two 10-strikeout postseason games before his 26th birthday, joining Trey Yesavage in 2025, Josh Beckett in 2003 and Jim Palmer in 1970-71.
Pitch count tells the night
Schlittler needed 117 pitches to get through 6 1/3 innings, a personal high. It was also the third-largest pitch total by a Yankees starter in a postseason game since the beginning of the 2005 season.
| Yankees postseason pitch totals since 2005 | Pitches |
|---|---|
| CC Sabathia, 2012 ALDS Game 5 | 121 |
| CC Sabathia, 2012 ALDS Game 1 | 120 |
| Cam Schlittler, AL Wild Card Series Game 1 | 117 |
The Yankees will take the clean sheet, the 1-0 series lead and the chance to finish the job in Game 2. But the lasting image from the opener was Schlittler working deep enough to make Boston’s early tension feel like somebody else’s problem.
