ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Three months ago, Cam Schlittler walked off the Tropicana Field mound having turned the Tampa Bay Rays into an afterthought.
On July 6, the New York Yankees right-hander threw eight innings of one-run ball, allowing three hits with eight strikeouts and no walks. He had heard the talk that he was slipping and took it personally.
“They want to say there’s regression because I have one bad outing. It was personal to go out there and just have a dominant start,” Schlittler said that night.
Even the Rays conceded the point. First baseman Jonathan Aranda explained why Tampa Bay’s contact-first lineup could not solve him.
“When you pair that with 100 mph, and then he’s doing it consistently one through eight innings, it’s tough to square up,” Aranda said.
That was the pitcher the Yankees handed the ball to Monday. Cam Schlittler finished the regular season with a 1.95 ERA and 11.1 strikeouts per nine innings. He is the prohibitive favorite for the AL Cy Young Award.
Tampa Bay beat the Yankees 5-2 for a 2-0 lead in the American League Division Series. Afterward, Schlittler refused the cover his manager offered and pinned the night on himself, before adding a line that cut far deeper into the Yankees clubhouse.
New York committed four errors and added several other defensive misplays. Aaron Boone said his starter kept rescuing the Yankees from trouble they created themselves.
Schlittler, however, did not want the protection.
That distinction matters because the Yankees are one loss from elimination and the clubhouse now has to separate poor execution from poor accountability. Monday offered plenty of mistakes to distribute. Schlittler’s response was to narrow the responsibility rather than spread it.
Four errors and a starter who wanted no excuses
His history with Tampa Bay was just as strong. Statcast data show he posted whiff rates of 39%, 38% and 29% in three starts against the Rays this season, with a 2.81 ERA.
In his previous start, the wild-card opener, he overwhelmed Boston. He struck out 10 and drew 24 swings and misses over 6 1/3 scoreless innings.
The stakes were plain. The Yankees had been held to one hit in a 1-0 Game 1 loss, and the pitching staff’s best arm was their answer.
The first inning offers the clearest measure of what Schlittler was fighting.
Ryan McMahon committed an error on the second pitch. Jazz Chisholm Jr. made a throwing error while trying to complete a double play. Austin Wells was charged with catcher’s interference.
Schlittler still threw 17 of 19 pitches for strikes and limited the Rays to one unearned run.
That combination matters. His stuff was not dominant, but his control prevented the game from breaking open before the Yankees came to bat a second time.
Two misplays by rookie shortstop George Lombard Jr. helped the Rays score four times, capped by Richie Palacios’ two-run single off Brent Headrick.
Asked about the Yankees defense behind him, Schlittler declined to point anywhere but at himself.
“I’m not disappointed in our defense. I’m not disappointed in the offense. Really just disappointed in myself. That’s baseball, and those things are gonna happen. But I’ve got to be able to work through those. I wasn’t able to do that today,” Schlittler said.
The line that landed on the Yankees clubhouse
Schlittler’s self-critique had a second half. While shouldering the blame, he also delivered the bluntest verdict any Yankee offered on the Yankees’ effort.
“Obviously, it starts with me,” Schlittler said. “I’ll be the first one to say that I didn’t do my job, but it didn’t seem like we really showed up today. So that’s what happens. They played really good baseball and took advantage of those opportunities.”
He framed the standard as one the whole Yankees roster shares.
“We expect a lot out of each other. It’s been great all year, but we just didn’t play our brand of baseball,” Schlittler said.
Boone saw it differently. He said the defense forced his starter to keep escaping trouble he did not create.
“He battled,” Boone said. “Obviously, [he] picked us up kind of all night. It’s just hard to do that time after time. Too many free outs out there or free baserunners.”
Boone then sharpened the point by separating Schlittler’s work from the defense behind him.
“But Cam did his job. We didn’t give him a good enough chance to really do his job.”
Statcast and the pitch chart show both sides were right
The data back Schlittler’s harsh self-review and Boone’s defense of him.
His whiff rate fell to 16%, according to Statcast. That is 13 percentage points below his worst whiff rate in any of his three regular-season starts against Tampa Bay, and less than half of his two best.
The fastballs that define him barely missed bats. His four-seamer drew a 10% whiff rate, his sinker 14% and his cutter 11%. Of 19 balls the Rays put in play, 11 were hard-hit.
He tied a career low with two strikeouts and got seven swings and misses, 17 fewer than he managed against Boston. He also sequenced his arsenal differently than in his earlier Rays starts.
MLB’s pitch-location chart for the start shows the pattern. Many four-seamers finished above the strike zone, while most curveballs landed at or below its bottom edge, several in the dirt.
Yet the Yankees defense still cost him half his runs. Two of the four were unearned, and Schlittler needed 41 pitches to get through two innings.
Yankees head home one loss from elimination
Teams leading 2-0 in a best-of-five series have advanced 83 of 93 times. Max Fried (5-5, 2.80 ERA) is projected to face Nick Martinez (15-6, 3.10) in Game 3 at 8 p.m. EDT Wednesday at Yankee Stadium.
Boone’s message was simple.
“It’s going to be a rough ride back,” Boone said. “You’ve got to find out what you’re made of. It’s gut-check time.”
The Yankees trail 2-0 and must win three straight to advance.
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