Schlittler shines as the Yankees sweep the Red Sox, to extend win streak to six
- Davis Cornell
- Apr 23
- 4 min read
The Yankees took down the Red Sox 4-2 to complete the sweep and win their sixth straight. Cam Schlittler, the Boston native, took the mound for the Yankees against his hometown team and faced off against Payton Tolle.
“It's very special, obviously, growing up around here to get out here and throw in front of everyone, so again, great experience,” Schlittler said.
Amed Rosario, Aaron Judge and Ben Rice struck out in order in the top half of the first inning. Schlittler worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the first inning with three groundouts.
Catcher Austin Wells had a brutal ABS challenge in the bottom of the second; that runner would go on to work a walk. However, Wells made up for the botched challenge by gunning down the runner trying to steal second. It looked like Schlittler was going to face the minimum, but a wild throw from Roasrio allowed a runner to reach with two outs. The next batter, Marcelo Mayer, crushed an RBI double off the green monster to give the Red Sox a 1-0 lead.
Rosario led off the fourth inning with a single to right, the first hit of the game for the Yankees. Judge followed with a walk, then Rice lined a single to left, loading the bases with nobody out. But Giancarlo Stanton punched out, Randal Grichuk flew out and Grisham struck out looking to strand the bases loaded with nobody out.
To lead off the top of the fifth inning, Jazz Chisholm Jr. hooked his first home run of the year around the pesky pole to lead off the inning and tie the ballgame at 1-1.
“Yeah, I mean it felt great, you know, anytime you hit a home run it feels good,” Jazz said.
The Red Sox responded in the bottom of the inning, as former Yankee Carlos Narváez sent a solo bomb into the monster seats, giving the Red Sox the lead.
In the top of the seventh, Trent Grisham, Jazz and José Caballero picked up three straight one-out singles to load the bases. Then Cody Bellinger came through with a huge two-out pinch-hit two-run single, giving the Yankees a 3-2 lead. Aaron Judge followed with an RBI single to extend the lead to 4-2.
Schlittler surrendered a leadoff single in the bottom of the seventh, but was quickly erased on a double play, followed by a lineout for a five-pitch inning. Schlittler worked a 1-2-3 eighth inning and ended his night with back-to-back punchouts and was pumped up coming off the mound.
Yankees closer David Bednar took over for the bottom of the ninth and worked a 1-2-3 inning to pick up the save and give the Yankees the sweep over their arch rivals.
Final line for Schlittler: Eight shutout innings, four hits allowed, two runs, only one earned, walked one, and struck out five on 96 pitches. He threw his fastball 46% of the time, the cutter 27%, the sinker 14%, the curveball 8%, and the slider 5%. Schlittler topped out at 99.4 and averaged 96.9 mph on the heater, with 10 whiffs tonight.
“I mean, didn't have my best stuff today," Schlittler said. "You know, definitely a grind. You know the boys picked me up. So again, just had to, you know, put pieces together and just keep trying to have quality innings.”
The Yankees will now head to Houston to take on the Astros in a three-game set. Will Warren will get the starting nod tomorrow, facing off against Lance McCullers Jr. The first pitch is slated for 8:10 p.m. ET on the YES Network.
My thoughts on the game: Great come-from-behind win, and just a great series all around, now six wins in a row, back-to-back sweeps. Schlittler was unreal tonight it seemed like he was pitching to contact a little bit more tonight, and cruised through eight innings. The second night in a row, a Yankees starter has gone eight innings. Jazz had his second two-hit game of the series and finally got off the schneid, hitting his first bomb of the year. You can't get to 50 homers if you don't hit the first one. Belli with a huge go-ahead single off the bench. Big RBI single from Judge as well. Just a great night from the offense all around with 10 hits on the night. Gerrit Cole was solid in his second rehab start, tossing 4.1 innings, allowing two runs, on five hits, no walks, and striking out four on 52 pitches. Carlos Rodon will make his first rehab start tomorrow. Anthony Volpe is now 6-for-15 with a home run and a pair of stolen bases in his rehab assignment. On to tomorrow to take on the Astros.
“I wouldn't say home runs was on my mind, it would be hits more than home runs,” Jazz said. “I wouldn't say that was mostly on my mind; it's early, I know I tend to have a couple of problems early in the season, but at the end of the day, it feels good to finally get one in there.”
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