Schlittler’s October masterpiece: Yankees eliminate the Red Sox, to advance to ALDS

New York—The Yankees took down the Red Sox in Game 3 of the Wild Card Series to advance to the ALDS. The 24-year-old rookie Cam Schlittler got the starting nod for the Yankees and put together the start of his life, facing off against the 23-year-old rookie Connelly Early.

"It's personal for me, just playing Boston. I was locked in. I trust the guys to go back me up out there, and that's exactly what they did," Cam said.

Cam worked a 1-2-3 top of the first inning with a strikeout against Alex Bregman to pick up Ben Rice, who dropped a pop-up in foul territory. 

Trent Grisham, Aaron Judge, and Cody Bellinger went down in order for the Yankees in the bottom of the first inning. 

In the top of the second inning, Cam worked around a leadoff single thanks to a pair of punchouts, thanks to some nasty sinkers. 

Giancarlo Stanton just missed a leadoff home run in the bottom of the second inning but trotted into second base for a double. But Ben Rice struck out, Amed Rosario flew out, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. struck out as the Yankees are now 2-for-17 with runners in scoring position this series. 

Cam retired the Red Sox in order in the top of the third with two more strikeouts to put his total up to five for the ballgame. 

Belli led off the bottom of the fourth inning with a bloop double in between the center and right fielders that had a 90% catch probability. Stanton followed that up with a walk. A couple of batters later, Rosario came through with an RBI single to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. Jazz followed that up with a single to load the bases with one out. The next batter, Anthony Volpe, delivered an RBI single to make it a 2-0 game. Two more runs then came across to score, thanks to an E3 off the bat of Austin Wells.  A pitch then hit Judge, and Belli flew out to end the inning. 

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Cam worked around a pair of singles and recorded three more strikeouts to put together a shutdown inning. 

Cam worked around a leadoff single in the top of the sixth inning and picked up two more punchouts to put his total up to 10 on the night. 

Jazz led off the bottom of the sixth inning with a line drive single to right field, his second hit of the night, both against left-handed pitchers. However, Volpe struck out, Wells grounded into a fielder's choice and moved up to second on a throwing error, and Grisham popped out to strand a runner on second. 

Cam worked a 1-2-3 top of the seventh inning with his 11th strikeout of the night in one of the most impressive Postseason debuts you will ever see from the 24-year-old with the Yankees' season on the line. 

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Judge, Belli, and Stanton went down in order for the Yankees.

With 100 pitches, Cam came back out for the top of the eighth inning and worked a 1-2-3 inning on just seven pitches, thanks to an unbelievable play from McMahon diving into the Red Sox dugout, who took over for Rosario on defense. Cam also recorded his 12th strikeout of the ballgame. 

“That's why we got him. You go out there and get the best third basemen for a reason,” Judge said about McMahon's play. “But it's plays like that, in crunch time, that's why you go out and get a guy like that.”

David Bednar took over for Cam in the top of the ninth inning and worked a scoreless inning with a strikeout to send the Yankees to Toronto for the ALDS. 

Cam Schlittler's final line: Eight shutout innings pitched, five hits allowed, zero walks, 18 swings and misses, and a career high 12 strikeouts on 107 pitches. Cam threw his fastball 47% of the time, the sinker 23%, the cutter 20%, and the curveball 10% of the time. Cam was unbelievable tonight, the best start by a Yankee in October since CC in Game 5 of the ALDS back in 2012. This kid is unreal. 

"Yeah, I mean, you never really know how it's going to go," Cam said. "So again, I was confident in myself to go out there and try and get to at least six innings. So to be able to go eight and shut them out was a great feeling."

"Impressive, impressive. But he's been our secret weapon," Judge said on Cam. "Ever since he got called out, this guy's been impressive for us. Just the way he handles the strike zone. He can run up to 100 miles an hour, but a great feel for all his pitches. And then no moment's too big for him." 

Game 1 of the ALDS is scheduled for 4:08 p.m. ET on Fox on Saturday, and both starters are still TBD it will probably be Luis Gil for the Yankees unless they want to throw Max Fried on short rest. 

My thoughts on the game: I don’t even know where to start. Thank goodness the Yankees finally beat the Red Sox in October for the first time since 2003; I couldn't have handled losing to them for the third time in seven years. Cam was unhittable tonight, 12 strikeouts in the biggest start of his life, just unbelievable, handing the ball off to Bednar for the ninth. He is the first pitcher in baseball history to go eight innings, walk none and punch out 12 in a postseason game. Bedanr, who was pitching for the sixth time in the last eight days, did his job. Bednar has been such a great trade deadline acquisition; who knows where this team would be without him. The offense scored four huge runs in the fourth inning off of Early, who looked great in the first three innings, and that was all the Yankees needed. Belli was limping, running down to first base in the eighth inning, but he received treatment on his left foot and should be ready for Game 1 of the ALDS. On to Saturday, as the Yankees have more baseball to play north of the border. 

"Oh my gosh, it blows it out of the water," Rice said on his first playoff experience. "It's been so cool. So cool to be a part of so far. First off, clinching it and now coming back from down 1-0 and winning the Wild Card Series, and now we're on to the ALDS. I mean, we're having a blast. It was a great time."