Schlittler shines as Yankees take opener of Subway Series
- Davis Cornell
- May 15
- 3 min read
The Yankees took down the Mets 5-2 in the first game of the Subway Series. Cam Schlittler got the starting nod for the Yankees and faced off against former Yankee Clay Holmes.
“A lot of fun,” Schlittler said of his first Subway Series experience. “The atmosphere was great, and the boys played great behind me.”
With two outs in the top half of the first inning, Aaron Judge reached base thanks to a catcher's interference, but Cody Bellinger popped out to strand Judge at first.
Schlittler worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the first inning with a pair of strikeouts, including one of Jaun Soto after he was ahead in the count 3-0.
The Yankees put together a little two-out rally in the top of the third as Ben Rice and Judge each picked up singles. Belli then lined an RBI double into the right field corner, giving them a 1-0 lead. Jazz Chisholm Jr. followed with a two-run double to right field to make it 3-0.
Spencer Jones led off the fourth inning with a 111.1 mph single off Holmes, which ended up fracturing Holmes' fibula. And Anthony Volpe followed with a walk. Rice then legged out a two-out infield single to load the bases for Judge, who flew out to right to end the frame.
“That's the first I've heard of that. I'm sorry,” Jones said when he found out Holmes fractured his fibula. “He's a friend of mine, we work out in Nashville together. That's tough to hear.”
Schlittler retired the Mets in order in the bottom of the fourth thanks to a beautiful barhanded play from him, followed by an off-balance throw.
In the top half of the fifth inning, Jazz worked a one-out walk, reaching base for the third time tonight. Jazz moved up to second base on a Ryan McMahon groundout, Jones then drove in Jazz with an RBI base knock, his first career multi-hit game, making it 4-0.
Schlittler struck out the side in the bottom half of the inning, putting his punchout total up to eight for the ballgame.
Soto took Schlittler deep to lead off the bottom of the seventh, cutting the Yankees' lead to 4-1. Schlittler picked up the first two outs, then walked a batter to end his night. Schlittler left the mound to a standing ovation as Fernando Cruz replaced him. Cruz allowed an infield single to bring the tying run to the plate, then induced a flyout to end the inning.
Final line for Schlittler: 6.2 innings pitched, allowing two hits, one earned run, walking two, and striking out nine on 106 pitches. Schlittler threw his fastball 54% of the time, the cutter 27%, the sinker 15%, the curveball 6%, and the slider 1%. He topped out at 99.1 mph and sat at 97.1 on his heater and tallied 19 whiffs tonight.
“I felt good again,” Schlittler said. “I don't think I had my A+ stuff, but I was able to get in the zone and kind of dominate from there.”
Cruz came back out for the bottom of the eighth inning and retired the Mets in order with some help from a nice play from Ryan McMahon at third base.
Rice crushed a solo shot to right field to lead off the ninth inning, his 14th homer of the year, to extend the Yankees' lead to 5-1. Jazz picked up a two-out single, his third knock of the night, but was picked off to end the frame.
The Yankees' closer, David Bednar, got the call for the bottom of the ninth and surrendered a two-out RBI single to Brett Baty, making it 5-2, then picked up the final out of the ballgame.
The Yankees will look to win the series tomorrow with Carlos Rodon on the mound; the Mets starter is still TBD. First pitch is slated for 7:15 p.m. ET on FOX.
My thoughts on the game: Another dominant start from Schlittler; he just made one mistake in a 0-2 count to Soto. A great introduction to the Subway Series for him, with nine strikeouts, his ERA remains at 1.35. Cruz did his job and picked up four big outs. I dont understand why Boone keeps using Bednar in non-save situations; his arm is going to be falling off by the time September and October roll around from being overused. Jazz had a much-needed big night at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a walk and a pair of RBIs; hopefully, that can get him going. Jones also had his first career multi-hit game in a 2-for-4 performance with an RBI. Rice continues to tear the cover off the baseball with a 3-for-5 night with a home run. Volpe has yet to get his first hit since being recalled, but he did have three walks tonight, nice seeing him put together some better at-bats. On to tomorrow as the Yankees will look to win the series.
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