NEW YORK — The fly ball to left field hung long enough for one of the fastest runners in the American League to think about testing it. That was the mistake.
Ceddanne Rafaela tagged from third in the seventh inning. Cody Bellinger caught Willson Contreras’ flyout and let go a throw that ended the inning, the threat and, in a sense, Boston’s night. The ball reached the plate at 99.7 mph. Austin Wells applied the tag. Yankee Stadium roared.
It was the kind of play that decides a game no one can score in. On a night when the Yankees managed three hits and the Red Sox stranded 10 runners, the margin was always a single moment. Bellinger provided it.
Manager Aaron Boone did not hedge. He called Bellinger’s throw one of the defensive plays of the year, and his starter said it changed everything. For a Yankees lineup missing Aaron Judge and starved for offense, defense had become the weapon.
Yankees win a rivalry opener that turned on gloves, not bats
The Yankees beat the Red Sox 1-0 on Friday night in the Bronx, opening a four-game series that could shape the American League wild-card race. Paul Goldschmidt’s third-inning home run off left-hander Patrick Sandoval was the only run either team scored. Everything after came down to pitching and defense.
The win moved the Yankees to 76-58 and three games clear of Boston for the top AL wild-card spot. It also squared the season series at 5-5. The Yankees stayed four games behind the first-place Tampa Bay Rays, who beat San Diego on Friday to hold at 80-54 in the AL East.
It was the Yankees’ first 1-0 win over the Red Sox since 2008 and their 13th shutout this season, tied for third-most in MLB. They managed only 11 shutouts all of last year.
Schlittler keeps finding new ways to stifle Boston
Right-hander Cam Schlittler was not sharp, and it barely mattered. The Massachusetts native who grew up rooting for the Red Sox tied a career high with five walks, yet Boston managed just two hits against him over 5 2/3 scoreless innings. He struck out eight on 102 pitches, his first outing of at least 100 since July 6.
His eighth strikeout, in the fifth, was his 200th of the season, and he lowered his AL-leading ERA to 2.09. Including the postseason, Schlittler now owns a 0.56 ERA against Boston, a number that has stopped looking like a fluke.
The Yankees defense repaid the traffic. In the fifth, with a runner aboard and Schlittler near 90 pitches, Trent Grisham, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Goldschmidt combined to double Rafaela off after a lineout to center, keeping the starter in for two more outs in the sixth.
Goldschmidt makes a rare start count
Goldschmidt had spent much of August watching. The trade-deadline additions of Luis García Jr. and Heliot Ramos, plus a stretch light on left-handers, had cut the veteran to 16 plate appearances entering Friday. Boone slotted him at leadoff against Sandoval, and he crushed a 430-foot drive, his 17th homer and first RBI since July 24. It gave the Yankees the only run they would need.
Goldschmidt, 38, said the quiet stretch did not change his preparation, only sharpened it.
“I’ve had a lot of different roles this year, but that’s what they want me to do, so I’m happy to do it,” Goldschmidt said. “I don’t try to do too much different. Just being ready, there’s not really an answer. I try to do my same routine in the cage and really I don’t overthink it.”
A bullpen under stress holds the line
Schlittler’s short outing put the game in the hands of a Yankees bullpen already stretched thin. Left-hander Brent Headrick escaped a jam, Paul Blackburn bridged the middle innings and closer David Bednar retired the side in the ninth for his 31st save, protecting the one-run lead.
Bellinger’s throw was the third-fastest of his career, behind a 102.5-mph throw in 2023, and the third-hardest tracked outfield assist by a Yankee since Statcast began in 2015. Only Aaron Hicks in 2016 and Judge in 2018 have thrown one harder in pinstripes.
Bellinger, who entered leading AL left fielders in defensive runs saved, said he knew Rafaela’s speed made the tag-up likely and credited Wells for the clean tag.
The number that separates Schlittler from the field
One statistic underlines how quietly dominant Schlittler has been. He now has 20 starts this season allowing one earned run or fewer, the most in the majors. No other pitcher has more than 16.
The win fit a Yankees surge that has gone underappreciated during the offense’s struggles. They have gone 35-12 over their last 47 games, hanging in the AL East chase despite Judge’s absence since late May with a rib fracture. Friday was also the second time this season the Yankees won 1-0 with Schlittler starting and Goldschmidt homering for the only run, the first coming July 24 against Philadelphia.
A doubleheader looms with the wild card at stake
The short outing carried a cost. The Yankees turned to two restricted starters Saturday in a doubleheader, with Carlos Rodon and Max Fried each on limited pitch counts. Fried was returning from his second left elbow bone bruise of the season, and the bullpen faced a long day after heavy use.
For now, the Yankees hold the position they wanted. Home-field advantage in a potential best-of-three wild-card series runs through the top wild-card seed, and Friday nudged them closer. Schlittler said the weekend goal is simple: separate from Boston.
“The division’s wide open,” Schlittler said. “Tampa’s got a couple games on us. Boston’s right behind us. I think if we separate ourselves from Boston this weekend, it puts us in a good spot.”
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