No one had done this against Cam Schlittler before.
The Tampa Bay Rays, though, aren’t just any team. They had the American League’s best record in the regular season, finishing with 100 wins. So when faced with the New York Yankees‘ right-handed pitching phenom in Game 2 of the ALDS, they weren’t fazed.
And when the Rays knocked Schlittler out of the game, they held a 3-1 lead.
Tampa Bay had already won Game 1 of the series by a 1-0 score in a one-hitter that featured the Yankees’ only hit being thrown out at third base before he could even stand there for a pitch.
Schlittler was the Yankees’ best chance to turn that around, but the Rays wouldn’t let him do it.
Rays Do Something Different
The one thing Schlittler almost always does, no matter how many outs he gets or how many runs he allows, is strike batters out.
The Rays hardly struck out at all on Monday night.
They finished with just two strikeouts against Schlittler, the lowest total he has ever allowed:
Tampa Bay Rays hitters had the lowest strikeout rate in MLB this year. And against Cam Schlittler, who’s winning the American League Cy Young, they punched out just two times — the lowest total in any of Schlittler’s 35 starts this season. Schlittler is done. Yankees trail, 3-1.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) October 6, 2026
As Passan suggests, it’s not a total surprise that the Rays did this. But having that few of strikeouts against Schlittler is unheard of.
Schlittler had struck out 10 batters in his last start, during a 6.1-inning outing against the Red Sox in the Wild Card Series.
His last outing of the regular season was just 3.0 innings against the Rays as the Yankees held up his pitch count at 70 pitches, and even in that outing, Schlittler had five Ks.
What happened on Monday night was different.
Cam Schlittler Stats
Schlittler went 4.1 innings. That means he got 13 outs.
Only two of them were strikeouts.
He also allowed seven hits and a walk, and he had four runs charged against him. Two of them were earned.
In a season when Schlittler has essentially had no bad outings, this was about as poor as it gets for him.
The Rays cashed in against reliable lefty reliever Brent Headrick when Schlittler left, too, and he was charged with a run, as well.
Tampa Bay had a 5-1 lead after five innings. That’s not something anyone saw coming when matched up with Schlittler. No one would’ve seen these two strikeouts coming, either. Schlittler always gets more, until now.
Rays Did Something vs. Cam Schlittler No One Has Done vs. Yankees Phenom