After losing six of eight, and their ace Max Fried to an elbow injury, the New York Yankees needed a huge pitching performance while facing one of the best in the majors Friday night.
Luckily, the Yankees had Cam Schlittler on the hill.
The second-year righty dominated the rival New York Mets by allowing just two hits and one run, on a solo homer to Juan Soto, while striking out nine in the Yankees’ 5-2 win at Citi Field.
The Yankees won for just the second time in their past seven games and kept pace with the first-place Tampa Bay Rays, who defeated the Miami Marlins on Friday. New York (28-17) trails Tampa Bay by two games despite having the second-best record in the American League.
Cam Schlittler Dominated the Mets on Friday Night
Amid the Yankees All-Star-laden rotation, Schlittler is quickly becoming the ace.
The 25-year-old Massachusetts native took a one-hit shutout into the seventh inning before he served up an opposite-field homer to the former Yankees outfielder — for Soto’s 250th career home run.
Still, Schlittler felt there was another level to get to.
“I felt good. I don’t think I had my A-plus stuff,” Schlittler said. “But I was able to get into the zone and kind of dominate from there. I did a good job of mixing pitches, and the guys behind me made some great plays.”
Schlittler continues to lead the American League in ERA (1.35) and trails only Los Angeles Dodgers ace Shohei Othani (0.82) in the majors. He became the second AL pitcher to reach six wins and is tied for second among major leaguers in wins at this point in the year.
Yet, Schlittler’s dominant performance was well timed too. The Yankees were reeling, and Fried was placed on the IL with a bone bruise in his throwing arm Friday — after three innings in what matched his shortest outing in a Yankees uniform. Plus, 2023 AL Cy Young Award winner Gerrit Cole is still rehabbing his way back from 2025 Tommy John surgery.
“As unfortunate a situation as it is, it’ll be good to get Gerrit back in there,” Schlittler said. “Hopefully the staff can continue to dominate.”
Schlittler retired the lead-off man in his first six innings and didn’t allow a runner to even reach second base. He flummoxed Soto in his first two plate appearances by striking him out swinging on a pair of 95-mph cutters, in the first inning and to end the fourth inning.
“It’s been a tough stretch of games for both sides,” Schlittler said. “It’s good to go out there and get the first one and hopefully go for a series win tomorrow.”
The Yankees Took it to Clay Holmes
Holmes has been one of the few bright spots for the Mets this season.
He entered his outing Friday with the third-best ERA (1.86) in the NL, only trailing Ohtani and Bryce Elder of the Atlanta Braves. He surely wanted to show the Yankees what he could do in his first start against them since signing in Queens last year.
But after two scoreless innings, the Yankees tagged Holmes for three runs in the third inning by recording four straight two-out hits.
Unfortunately, Holmes exited the game with a broken tibia, which he sustained on a comebacker from Spencer Jones. He left after striking out a season-high eight batters through 4 1/3 innings.
Cam Schlittler Authors Dominant Performance for Yankees vs Mets