Cam Schlittler Masterpiece Takes Wildcard. NY 4 Boston 0

October 3, 2025 paperbacklou 2025 0

Cam Schlittler — the 24-year-old rookie who started the year in AA — became a star, with all of MLB now knowing his name — as he threw 8 innings of 5-hit, shutout baseball, striking out 12 and walking none with his easy-motion 98-100 MPH gas — to carry the Yankees to a 4-0 win over the Red Sox in the winner-take-all 3rd game of the Wild Card series.

At an electric Yankee Stadium on an beautiful, October-chilly Thursday night.

The Yankees put 4 runs on the board in the 4th inning against Red Sox 23-year-old starter Connelly Early and that was all they needed. It started with a bloop fly to center by Cody Bellinger that fell in, a walk to Giancarlo Stanton, a clutch RBI single by Amed Rosario, a single by Jazz Chisholm Jr., a clutch RBI single by Anthony Volpe to make it 2-0, and a red-hot shot to 1st by Austin Wells that got past 1st baseman Nathaniel Lowe for 2 more runs.

David Bednar pitched the 9th — and got 3 straight outs after allowing a leadoff walk for the win.

“Boys answered the bell and played great baseball these last couple days,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards.

NY eliminates the Red Sox from the playoffs for the first time since Aaron Boone‘s HR in 2003 — and now face Toronto in the ALDS.

1. Yanks Rally for 4 off Early in 4th

The 23-year-old Connelly Early looked sharp early, retiring the Yanks 1-2-3 in the 1st. Giancarlo Stanton led off the 2nd by Ripping a shot off the wall in left — just missing a HR. Big G thought it was a HR at 1st, and momentarily started into a homerun trot — then hustled into 2nd. Red Sox fans noted afterwards that their leftfielder Jarren Duran also thought it was a homerun, and casually jogged after it at first — which allowed Big G to get to 2nd.

But the lefty Early came back and struck out lefty Ben Rice with a nasty sweeper, got a fly out, and struck out lefty Jazz Chisholm to end the inning.

Early pitched a shutout 3rd — allowing only a 1-out single to lefty Trent Grisham — and was looking tough.

But it all fell apart in the 4th.

Lefty Cody Bellinger started it off with a pop up to center that just fell in out of the reach of Ceddanne Rafaela.

Giancarlo Stanton walked — but Early struck out Ben Rice again. Boone’s decision to play Rice over Paul Goldschmidt was backfiring — and his decision to play Goldschmidt over Rice in game 1 against lefty Garrett Crochet was looking like the right thing to have done.

And then Amed Rosario — righty playing 3rd — ripped a single to left for a 1-0 Yankee lead. Another great decision by Boone.

Lefty Jazz Chisholm Jr. singled to right to load the bases with 1 out, and Anthony Volpe ripped a single to right for a 2-0 Yankee lead.

Lefty Austin Wells then ripped a hard grounder to 1st that Nathaniel Lowe could not handle — and 2 runs scored. Yankees 4 Red Sox 0.

2. Schlittler Becomes a Star

The 6’6 Schlittler was good from the beginning — although he got behind in a couple of counts the first 2 innings before coming back and striking guys out. By the 3rd inning he got in rhythm and started motoring through the Red Sox lineup like water — the only batter to get to him was Masahiro Yoshida — who slapped a 2-out single leading off the 2nd (before Schlittler struck out the next 2 batters and got a groundout) and a 2-out single in the 4th.

Schlittler’s one moment of truth came in the 5th when — leading 4-0 — he allowed a leadoff single to Nathaniel Lowe, struck out the next 2 batters, and then allowed a 2-out single to Romy Gonzalez. But he struck out Jalen Duran to end the threat.

It was the only time all evening that the Red Sox got a runner to 2nd base.

Schlittler had a start late in the season where he was unable to get the 3rd out in the 5th — coming into the inning leading 10-1 and getting the first 2 outs, but then allowing a 2-run HR that caused him to start walking batters trying to be too fine. Schlittler made up for it in his last 2 starts of the regular season by attacking the strike zone relentlessly — including 7 innings of 2-hit shutout ball in his final start.

In this start it was the same thing — Schlittler attacked the zone relentlessly — making the game simple by throwing his easy-motion 98-100 MPH fastball with movement, intermixed with his 94-MPH cutter, 85-MPH curve, and 98-MPH sinker. He didn’t walk a batter.

Helped by Volpe Defense in 6th

After allowing the 2 runners in the 5th the Yankees went out 1-2-3 on 9 pitches against Justin Slaten in the bottom of the 5th, with Stanton and Ben Rice making out on 1 pitch each — at least Amed Rosario fouled off a few pitches to work a 7-pitch at bat.

That sent Schlittler right back out with little rest — and he allowed a leadoff single to Trevor Story. But he got Alex Bregman to hit a grounder to 2nd that Jazz Chisholm Jr. made a good stop on, spinning and throwing low to Anthony Volpe covering 2nd — and Volpe made a slick catch of the ball in the dirt for the out.

Schlittler then struck out Yoshida and Ceddanne Rafaela to end the inning to the roar of Yankee Stadium.

It then became a question of how long Schlittler would be allowed to go. He entered the 7th at 89 pitches and Fernando Cruz was warming in the pen.

Schlittler Blows Through 7 — Goes Back Out for the 8th

But Schlittler blew through the 7th on 11 pitches — getting foul out, pop out, and strike out of Wyler Abreu for his 11th K of the evening on his 100th pitch as Yankee Stadium roared again. It seemed like his night was done — but as he walked into the Yankee dugout, everyone could read Aaron Boone‘s lips on the broadcast as he told Schlittler he was throwing strikes, he was staying in.

3. McMahon Makes Like Jeter with Amazing Catch in Stands

And so Schlittler came back out for the top of the 8th in a 4-0 game, and immediately got Jonathan Lowe on a foul out, then got Carlos Narvaez to hit a foul pop up behind 3rd that Ryan McMahon made a spectacular catch on — flipping upside down into the stands the way Derek Jeter once did.

Schlittler ended the night by striking out Abreu for his 12th K to a thunderous roar from Yankee Stadium.

4. Red Sox Pen Keeps Yanks at Bay

The Red Sox bullpen of Slaten, Steven Matz, Greg Weissert, and Aaroldis Chapman kept the Yankees at bay — shutting them out for the 5th through 8th to keep Boston within range.

Ben Rice had trouble with lefty Early — and was pinch-hit for by Paul Goldschmidt against lefty Chapman in the bottom of the 8th — and Goldschmidt promptly ripped a leadoff single. But Chapman struck out McMahon, Chisholm, and Volpe and so it was to the 9th with the score 4-0 NY.

5. Bednar the Save

David Bednar was in for the 9th, and walked leadoff batter Alex Bregman on a 3-2 pitch. But he got Yoshida to ground the ball to Chisholm at 2nd — who fired a strike to Volpe covering 2nd for the 1st out.

Bednar then struck out Rafaela and got Lowe to foul out to McMahon at 3rd for the old ballgame!

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401809256

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