Two Massachusetts natives did the damage against their home-state team on Tuesday night. Cam Schlittler shut down the Red Sox and Ben Rice broke the game open as the Yankees won Game 1 of the American League wild-card series 9-0 in front of a sellout crowd of 48,737 at Yankee Stadium.
Schlittler in Command
The 25-year-old right-hander allowed two singles and a walk over 6 1/3 innings and struck out 10. He relied on his curveball more than in any previous start and got a career-high 24 swings and misses. He struck out the side in the first inning.
Schlittler left in the seventh after a career-high 117 pitches, with the Yankees ahead 2-0, to a standing ovation and chants of "MVP." His career ERA against Boston is now 0.47 over six starts. A year ago, he threw eight scoreless innings with 12 strikeouts in the clinching Game 3 of the same series.
Afterward he said the work was not finished and that pitchers who want to become legends have to do it in October.
Rice Breaks It Open
Rice finished with four hits and six RBIs, as many hits as he had in six playoff games last year. He hit a solo homer into Monument Park off lefty reliever Erik Miller in the fifth to make it 2-0, then ended any suspense with a grand slam in the eighth. Rice hit 41 home runs during the regular season.
The first run came in the second inning. George Lombard Jr. led off with a single, Anthony Volpe singled with one out, and Austin Wells lined a two-out single to right. After Paul Blackburn relieved Schlittler and got a double play to end the seventh, the Yankees scored twice off reliever Alec Gamboa before Rice's slam.
Boston's Lefty Plan Backfires
The Red Sox's left-handed pitching was supposed to be a problem for the Yankees, who were playing without Aaron Judge. Instead, New York's left-handed hitters (Rice, Cody Bellinger, Spencer Jones and Wells) went 7-for-13 against three Boston lefties. Starter Payton Tolle lasted only 4 2/3 innings.
Boston also lost outfielder Roman Anthony during the game when his hand injury flared up again, putting the rest of his series in doubt.
Schlittler, Rice and Volpe were all scouted and signed by the same Yankees scout, Matt Hyde. Manager Aaron Boone called the duo's night "pretty remarkable."
Max Fried will face Sonny Gray in Game 2 on Wednesday with a chance to finish the sweep.
Based on reporting by the New York Post (nypost.com). Photo: Yankee Stadium, 2023 (Rachel Nicastro, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons).
