Schlittler shines as the Yankees take the series over the Orioles

New York—The Yankees took down the Orioles 6-1 to win the series. Cam Schlittler got the starting nod for the Yankees and faced off against Tomoyuki Sugano.

In the top of the first inning, Cam worked around a two-out walk to put together a scoreless frame and recorded his first strikeout of the ballgame. 

The captain, Aaron Judge, got the scoring started in the bottom of the first inning with a solo shot, his 53rd home run of the season, to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. 

"It was a good game plan," Judge said. "We got a great lineup with, if it's Grisham or Rice hitting in front of me, or if I got Belli in front of me. The guys just do a good job seeing a lot of pitches. We communicate a lot on what they're seeing. Yeah, we just try to strike early because we know with our pitching staff, we can get a run early, and they'll take care of the rest." 

Giancarlo Stanton crushed a solo home run to lead off the bottom of the second inning, 427 feet the other way, his 24th bomb of the year in just 76 games to make it a 2-0 ballgame. A couple of batters later, Ryan McMahon sent a solo home run of his own into the Yankees' bullpen, making it a 3-0 game. 

Cam put together a 1-2-3 top of the third inning and recorded his third punch out of the ballgame in the process. 

In the top of the fifth inning, Cam hit two batters, but a pair of strikeouts and a groundout helped him work into and out of trouble. 

McMahon led off the bottom of the fifth with a line drive single to right field, his second hit of the game and first two-hit game since September 4. A couple of batters later, Trent Grisham worked a one-out walk. The next batter, Ben Rice, worked a walk of his own to load the bases. Two butal strike calls were called on Judge, leading to Aaron Boone's seventh ejection of the season. Judge came through with a two-run single to extend the Yankees' lead to 5-0. The next batter, Cody Bellinger, made it a 6-0 game thanks to a sacrifice fly. Jazz Chisholm Jr. was then hit by a 97 mph fastball right on the forearm and had to leave the game; he better be okay. 

"I didn't even boil over. There's no way I should've been kicked out there," Boone said.

In the top of the sixth inning, Cam picked up two more strikeouts to help work around a two-out single and put his total up to eight on the day. 

Cam put together a 1-2-3 top of the seventh inning to get through a career high seven innings. 

Paul Blackburn replaced Cam on the mound and immediately gave up a solo home run to Coby Mayo to make it a 6-1 game. 

Cam Schlittler's final line: Seven shutout innings, two hits allowed, one walk, 13 swings and misses, and a career high nine strikeouts on 97 pitches. Cam threw his fastball over half the time at 52%, the cutter 28%, the sinker 10%, and the curveball 10% of the time. Cam was excellent today and has been great ever since being called up, likely earning him a start in game three of the playoffs. 

"I think just being in the zone, you know, feeling the mechanics, kind of taking a step from last week, and just making sure I'm attacking guys," Cam said. 

Blackburn remained in the game for the top of the ninth inning and retired the Orioles in order to give the Yankees the series win. 

Luis Gil will get the starting nod for the Yankees tomorrow as they go for the sweep, facing off against Kyle Bradish. The first pitch is scheduled for 3:05 p.m. ET on the YES Network. 

My thoughts on the game: The Yankees continue to win, while the Blue Jays lead 3-0 early. As a result, the division will likely come down to Game 162 tomorrow. X-rays on Jazz’s forearm thankfully came back negative, but he will also go for a CT scan later on, Boone said, "early signs are good." Judge and Stanton both went deep again. McMahon also crushed a home run, his 20th of the season. The offense got the job done all around with six runs and seven hits. Cam was awesome today, arguably the best start of his career, with a career high in strikeouts and innings pitched. And Blackburn picked up the final six outs to save the rest of the bullpen for the biggest game of the season tomorrow. On to tomorrow, it would be really nice if the Rays could pay us back for letting them use Steinbrenner Field this year and take down the Jays today or tomorrow. 

"162 games, and whatever happens today it's going to come down to that last day.. That's the beauty of our sport," Boone said.