Yankees turn tables on Red Sox, and they do it with a former Sox fan on the mound
Cam Schlittler of the New York Yankees celebrates after defeating the Boston Red Sox in game three of the Wild Card series at Yankee Stadium on Thursday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Twenty-two years after Aaron Boone’s walk-off home run against Tim Wakefield in ALCS Game 7, the Yankees finally restored the rightful order in their century-old rivalry with the Red Sox.
This long-awaited occasion didn’t feature anything quite on par with Boone’s heart-stopping drama. Thursday night was a winner-take-all Game 3 of the Wild Card Series, well short of earning a trip to the Fall Classic.
But given the Yankees’ extended playoff futility against their Boston bogeymen, the stakes felt as high as ever.
Boone had been under siege for days. His Yankees teetered on the brink of being eliminated by an inferior, wounded rival after winning eight straight (and 32 of 44) to end the regular season.
So how perfect that it was a native New Englander, rookie phenom and former Red Sox fan Cam Schlittler, who sent the Sox home for the winter, becoming the first pitcher in postseason history to throw eight scoreless innings with 12 strikeouts and zero walks in leading the Yankees to a 4-0 victory.
Just as important, Schlittler got his manager off the hook and launched the Yankees to the next round, a Division Series matchup with the Blue Jays that begins Saturday at Rogers Centre.
“Honestly, going into [Thursday] night for me personally, it felt like as pressure-packed a game as I’ve ever been in — as a player, manager — that’s World Series games, clinching to go to the World Series games,” Boone said afterward. “Just because the context of it in my brain — what I think our team is, a storied opponent here, down one game. The boys answered the bell and played great baseball these last couple of days.”
Having 1978 icon Bucky Dent throw out the ceremonial first pitch set the tone early, revving the sellout crowd of 48,833 into an immediate frenzy, but that was nothing compared to the Bronx energy that crackled during each of Schlittler’s many 100-mph fastballs. He literally rolled out of bed Thursday morning feeling ready to unleash the kind of pain he did on the Red Sox.
“I woke up and I was locked in,” Schlittler said. “I knew exactly what I needed to do to go out there, especially against my hometown team. As I told Andy [Pettitte], I wasn’t going to let them beat me.”
Schlittler was dominant, and his 12 strikeouts were the most ever by a Yankees rookie in a postseason game. The Yankees also benefited from the defensively challenged Red Sox kicking the ball around to set up a four-run fourth inning.
When Cody Bellinger led off with a sky-high fly ball that dropped between three Red Sox fielders in shallow center, it was ruled a double, but it carried an expected batting average of .070.
What followed was a walk, three singles and a grounder by Austin Wells that clanged off the glove of first baseman Nathaniel Lowe for a two-run error. Thanks to Schlitter’s masterful 107-pitch performance, it was pretty much Game Over at that point.
The Yankees became the first team to rally from a Game 1 loss to win a Wild Card Series since the best-of-three format was implemented along with the expanded 12-team playoffs in 2022. Those teams had been 0-15, including the Guardians and Padres, who were eliminated earlier Thursday.
In three games, the Yankees’ starters — Schlittler, Max Fried and Carlos Rodon — allowed three earned runs in 20 1⁄3 innings, posting a 1.33 ERA and 0.93 WHIP.
“We just showed our resilience,” Giancarlo Stanton said. “And shut them down from the pitching side, too. It was a great series, but now it’s all erased and we have another one we need to perform well in.”
Thursday’s Game 3 victory also marked the end of Alex Cora’s maddening ability to mess with the Yankees’ October fortunes — and that certainly was a relief to Boone, who was ripped for the managerial decisions that led to their Game 1 demise.
Boone stuck with his regular lefty hitters, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Ben Rice — another Massachusetts import — against Red Sox rookie lefthander Connelly Early, but the result didn’t ultimately hinge on those choices.
Amed Rosario, who started at third, and Anthony Volpe had RBI singles during the fourth-inning rally before the error on Wells’ chopper gave Schlittler all the breathing room necessary.
“We needed to be perfect tonight, because he was perfect,” Cora said. “The stuff is outstanding. He was under control. That was electric.”
For once, it was the Red Sox who left the Bronx frustrated. Since Boone’s dramatic 2003 blast, the Yankees had been trying to buck their head-to-head history, a total reversal of The Curse of the Bambino. Cora had become a Bronx nemesis, seemingly taking a special enjoyment from pantsing the Yankees, which he’s done frequently.
That’s why Game 3 represented a great opportunity for Boone & Co. to not only advance to a Division Series showdown with the Blue Jays but also get Cora’s feisty Bostonians off their proverbial backs.
Up to this point, the Yankees and Red Sox were dead even, 13-13, in their October meetings, but Cora’s crew had won nine of the past 11, completely flipping the rivalry’s once-familiar script before Schlittler authored Thursday’s astonishing chapter.
“When you throw 100, command the baseball and land your secondary pitches,” Boone said, “you can be a problem for the opposition.”
As for the Yankees’ problems with Cora’s Red Sox, those are history now, too.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
