Cam Schlittler Dominates Red Sox Once Again
Cam Schlittler's coming-out party in the MLB was his historic playoff start against the Boston Red Sox, whom he just dominated again. His last two outings against the Sox? 16 innings with one earned run. In the most recent, he went eight innings to help the New York Yankees seal an early-season sweep of the Red Sox, who had their number in the regular season in 2025.
Schlittler dealt with vicious fan behavior before the Wild Card rubber match last year. Being a Boston native and former Red Sox fan, he was expecting as much, although it was a bit harsher than he appreciated. This time, the heckling and fan behavior didn't bother him at all.
Schlittler is cool, calm, and collected, and he was on fire on Thursday night. He yielded just two runs, one of which was unearned after a throwing error, as the Yankees came from behind late with a Cody Bellinger pinch-hit single to earn the series sweep. Quietly, they've now win six in a row after losing seven of nine and are back atop the AL East by 2.5 games.
Cam Schlittler wasn't bothered by Red Sox fans
In the playoffs, Cam Schlittler was in New York, so any fan activity from the Red Sox trying to get under his skin was virtual. This time, though, he was in Fenway Park, the home of his childhood favorite team. They were able to boo and jeer him in person this time.
"There was a couple things but, again, Cody (Charneski, social media) is out there with the camera, so I think that'll limit that," the pitcher said. "Not too bad. I think you overestimate how many genuine people are out there compared to online. So it's a good feeling. I had a lot of buddies out there watching."
Schlittler finds himself in the middle of baseball's most historic and often heated rivalry. Growing up a Red Sox fan, he knows how intense things get, but now he's on the other side of it. In some ways, he's a lightning rod, but there are still Red Sox fans who are nice to him, even shouting him out with a positive sign at Thursday's series finale.
"I think he handled it great," teammate Cody Bellinger said. "He's such a young kid, and this rivalry, it is -- it's different when you wear these two uniforms and he's just done a tremendous job pitching and handling everything that comes with it."
Read More
Aaron Boone hails ace
Cam Schlittler arrived when he dominated the Red Sox in historic fashion. He became the first pitcher in MLB history to go eight or more scoreless innings with 12 or more strikeouts and zero walks in a playoff game, and he did it in a winner-take-all elimination game.
This year, following more domination against the Red Sox, Schlittler is proving he wasn't a one-hit wonder. He's been a revelation for the Yankees' pitching staff. He is now 3-1 with a 1.77 ERA and 41 strikeouts (the latter two stats are top six among all pitchers so far) in 35.2 innings. He has 1.3 bWAR already.
"He's got a great demeanor about him. He's very even-keeled and very adaptable, but also competitive and very confident. All great traits," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. "He's always looking forward to his day out there. He's a very confident guy and I think it's meaningful for him to come back to where he grew up."
Even Alex Cora praised Schlittler, recalling that playoff game. "He was throwing hard that day," Cora said before first pitch on Thursday. "From pitch one, we had to be almost perfect. We didn't put too much pressure on him."
