Unsung hero
One AL East nemesis slayed. Now another one awaits.
Led by a flamethrowing rookie pitcher and an offense that took advantage of putting the ball in play instead of waiting for the long ball, the Yankees finished off a comeback against the Red Sox in their AL wild-card series to advance to the ALDS against the Blue Jays.
Cam Schlittler turned in a masterful performance, striking out 12 across eight shutout innings, making a four-run fourth inning from his offense stand up to capture a 4-0 win over the Red Sox in Game 3 on Thursday night, taking the series 2-1 in front of a raucous Yankee Stadium crowd of 48,833.
Schlittler, the 24-year-old who grew up a Red Sox fan outside of Boston before being drafted by the Yankees in 2022, continued his meteoric rise after starting the year in Double-A, recording the most strikeouts by any rookie in franchise postseason history.
Routinely pumping 100 mph fastballs and sinkers in the early innings, the right-hander put the Yankees’ October dreams on his shoulders and dominated a pesky Red Sox club that had threatened to end their season after winning Game 1.
This marked the first playoff series the Yankees have won against the Red Sox since Aaron Boone walked off the 2003 ALCS, having lost the 2018 ALDS and 2021 wild-card game in between.
It was also the first playoff series the Yankees have won against a non-AL Central team — aside from a one-game wild-card against the A’s in 2018 — since beating the Orioles in the 2012 ALDS.
The Yankees, who went 4-9 against the Red Sox during the regular season, will begin the ALDS on Saturday in Toronto, trying to reverse another lopsided season series won by the Blue Jays 8-5.
After the Tigers and Cubs won their series earlier on Thursday, it became 15 times in 15 wild-card series (since the playoffs expanded in 2022) that the winner of Game 1 has gone on to take the series. The Yankees bucked that trend, too.
Schlittler came out firing, routinely hitting triple digits during a 14-pitch first inning that was punctuated by a 100 mph sinker that got Alex Bregman looking. He threw the fastest pitch of his young career in the second inning, a 100.7 mph sinker that froze Nathaniel Lowe for another strikeout. And he whiffed two more in the third, including Romy Gonzalez on a 100 mph sinker.
The only problem was that his fellow rookie, Red Sox lefty Connelly Early, was matching him early with zeroes.
Like Schlittler, Early punched out five through his first three innings, leaning on more breaking stuff to give the Yankees problems.
And then the fourth inning began with a well-placed bloop into right-center field by Cody Bellinger, the ball falling just beyond the reach of a diving Ceddanne Rafaela. Bellinger hustled the whole way to end up with a double before Giancarlo Stanton drew a walk.
After Early struck out Ben Rice, Amed Rosario shot a single through the left side, with Bellinger racing around to score for the 1-0 lead.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. followed with a line-drive single to right field to load the bases for Anthony Volpe, who continued to rise to the occasion in October by slapping a single through the right side that made it 2-0.
Austin Wells came up next and briefly looked like he was going to reach on catcher’s interference.
But the Red Sox challenged the play and got it overturned, which ended up working in favor of the Yankees as Wells roped the next pitch to first base, off the glove of Lowe to score two runs for the 4-0 lead.
An inning that has happened to the Yankees was suddenly happening for them, making things happen by putting the ball and play and forcing the Red Sox to make plays, which they did not.
Schlittler took care of the rest. He scattered just five singles and walked none, with the Red Sox never getting past second base against him. It looked like he might be done after seven innings and 100 pitches, but then he came back out for the eighth, which drew a standing ovation.
And after he struck out his 12th batter, he got some unbelievable defense from third baseman Ryan McMahon, who flipped over the Red Sox dugout after running down a pop-up for the second out.
One pitch later, his 107th of the night, Schlittler’s gem was complete.
David Bednar finished it off in the ninth, setting off a celebration in front of the home crowd.
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