​Cam Schlittler did something Tuesday night in the Bronx that put him in spectacular pitching company. Already a talent so sublime he qualifies as a rivalry separator in the blood feud that is Yankees-Red Sox, Schlittler’s going for bigger than just Sox-killer status: He’s blooming into postseason royalty, too.
The Yankees beat the Red Sox, 9-0, at Yankee Stadium and Schlittler delivered 6.1 scoreless innings, allowing two hits while striking out 10. Going back to last October when he first shredded Boston, he now has two scoreless playoff starts with at least 10 strikeouts in his career, something only five pitchers have accomplished.
And those pitchers are something else – Justin Verlander did it three times and Sandy Koufax, Randy Johnson, Kevin Brown and Cliff Lee did it twice each. Aces all.
“It’s very well known that if you want to be a legend, which is obviously the goal, you’ve got to do it in the postseason,” said Schlittler. “Go out there and have dominant starts and put the team in the position to win.”
The Yankees can advance Wednesday with a victory in Game 2 of the best-of-three AL Wild Card Series. Schlittler knows, as he put it, “the job isn’t finished yet.” But he also said, “We’re heading in the right direction.”
Schlittler will win the AL Cy Young Award later this year following a remarkable regular season. He’s also got a 0.47 ERA in six career starts against the Red Sox, including his eight scoreless innings last October. Tuesday night, he demonstrated numerous times how good he is, to the point where his teammates were marveling afterward.
Anthony Volpe, who started at second base after only playing shortstop behind Schlittler, was agog. “From second base, watching some of these righties, I never had that angle,” Volpe said.
“Some of the swings were so far away from where he was throwing the ball.”
Schlittler, who had a 1.95 ERA during the regular season, featured his curveball nearly three times more than usual. The pitch was landing for called strikes or swing-and-misses – he finished four of his strikeouts with it – and it was the perfect antidote for the times Red Sox hitters tried to guess early at his high-90s heat.
Aaron Boone noted that Schlittler and catcher Austin Wells excelled at picking spots to use the curve.
“I thought they did a really nice job of using that off of some guys selling out to the four-seam,” Boone said. “He was filling up the strike zone with it, too, so he was able to get strikes with it if he needed to and, obviously, chase. And then the fastball was great.”
“The amount of miss and weak contact I’m getting with that (the curve), I’m feeling like I’m in a really good spot with it,” Schlittler said.
“Cam was obviously awfully good,” added Boston manager Chad Tracy. “The fastball shapes are well-documented. He’s throwing hard. He also had a good curveball. You know it’s there, but he used it a little bit more often. He landed it, i