Cam Schlittler improves AL Cy Young case with six scoreless innings as Yankees take rubber match of Subway Series over Mets

Cam Schlittler pitched Sunday as if the Mets were wearing Red Sox uniforms.

For those needing a primer, that boils down to this: The Mets, like Schlittler’s hometown Red Sox, had no chance against him.

Continuing his journey toward the American League Cy Young Award — which seems more and more inevitable with each successive and successful outing — Schlittler allowed one hit and struck out eight in six innings in a 2-0 victory over the Mets on Sunday afternoon in front of a crowd of 45,508.

The victory allowed the Yankees (86-63) to complete a 5-1 homestand and lower their magic number to one to clinch a playoff spot.

Schlittler — who is 14-6 with a 1.95 ERA, including 4-0 with a 1.00 ERA and 0.76 WHIP in his last seven starts — is not just turning the Cy Young race into a runaway.

He suddenly is boosting his candidacy — tremendous long shot that it may be — for another award typically not won often by starting pitchers.

“He might be the MVP, too,” manager Aaron Boone said. “It’s been awesome. Just an awesome season.”

Schlilttler, whose ERA has never been higher than 2.49 after any game this season, has allowed one or no runs 21 times — striking out 164 in 133 1⁄3 innings in that span — in 31 starts. He has a 0.81 ERA and 0.72 WHIP in those 21 games, and in two other games, he allowed zero or one earned run. He has allowed three or fewer runs in 27 of those 31 starts and two or fewer in 24 of them.

Schlittler was pulled from the game after his 94th and final pitch when he took Bo Bichette’s 111.5-mph line drive off his right hamstring area (it resulted in an inning-ending 1-2-3 putout). It just missed hitting his pitching hand.

Schlittler said he was “feeling good” and responded “oh, yeah, I’m not worried” when asked about making his next start.

Boone said he was leaning toward taking him out anyway — he is at a career-high 184 2⁄3 innings and counting — to conserve him for October, but when he saw him get hit, that made pulling him “a no-brainer.”

As for the MVP talk, Schlittler, who has as much self-confidence as any player in the Yankees’ clubhouse but combines that with a heavy dose of self-deprecating humor, passed.

“I don’t know anything about that,” said Schlittler, who was backed by home runs by Ben Rice (No. 38) and Austin Wells (No. 11). “Great compliment.”

The second-year pitcher then tweaked his manager, whose bum right knee recently acted up, causing Boone to arrive for work Sunday with a pronounced limp.

“Boonie’s a great guy. Hopefully he can get that leg fixed,” Schlittler said with a smile. “But always appreciate the kind words from him.”

Three-time AL MVP Aaron Judge, as much of an old-school traditionalist as there is in the clubhouse, appeared to enunciate an old-school thought: the Cy Young Award is for pitchers, the MVP is for position players.

“He’s definitely pitching like an MVP,” Judge said. “They’ve got a Cy Young Award for a reason — best pitcher in the game. He’s got my vote definitely for the Cy Young.”

Schlittler’s league-low 1.95 ERA is the second-lowest by a Yankee through the first 31 starts of a season, trailing Ron Guidry’s 1.71 in 1978. His 228 strikeouts are the seventh-most by a Yankees pitcher in a single season (Gerrit Cole has the record with 257 in 2022).

“Nothing fazes him. He’s dialed in,” Judge said. “Doesn’t matter if it’s a day game against a team out of it or if it’s a playoff game, this guy’s ready to go.”

Schlittler, who needs only to see someone in a different uniform holding a bat to get fired up, nonetheless took the mound with a bit of extra motivation Sunday. That, he said, was born from Saturday’s 12-2 loss.

“It’s a little frustrating yesterday, just hearing all the Mets chants,” he said, smiling again. “Just kind of wanted to make sure I could come in here today and kind of shut that down. Great series win there. It’s always good to win the Subway Series.”

Schlittler’s dominance allowed the Yankees to win despite recording only three hits, the same number as the Mets (69-80).

“He’s really good,” Mets interim manager Andy Green said. “Right about now, he’s right up there with [Jacob] Misiorowski as the best in the game. Stuff was alive all day. The mix between the cutter and the [four-seam fastballs] was pretty powerful, and then the occasional curveball that he threw in there . . . Credit to him. He’s really good.”

Notes & quotes: The AL East-leading Rays have a four-game edge on the Yankees  with 13 to play. If the Rays go 7-6 and win even one game in next week’s four-game series against the Yankees, the Yankees will have to go undefeated in every other remaining game to beat them out.

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.