The New York Yankees secured a game-one victory over the Boston Red Sox by a score of 9-0 on Tuesday night. Cam Schlittler got the win with a final line of 6.1 innings, two hits, one walk, and 10 strikeouts while throwing a monstrous 117 pitches. Payton Tolle got the loss with 4.2 innings, five hits, one walk, one earned run, and four strikeouts. Ben Rice went 4-for-5 with two home runs and six RBI, which is tied for the most in a playoff game by a Yankee since they started tracking RBI in 1920. Austin Wells went 2-for-3 with a pair of RBI.
New York secured their nine runs on 12 hits, while Boston mustered a total of four baserunners with three hits and one base on balls during this game.
From the early going, both teams wanted to run up the pitch counts of Cam Schlittler and Payton Tolle. Both pitchers threw over 20 pitches in the first inning despite neither team getting on the scoreboard. However, the Yankees did just that in the second inning with an RBI single from Austin Wells.
The Yankees hitters started getting to Tolle in the second, as well as the fourth, where they got runners on first and second with no outs. Despite this, a pop fly out from Spencer Jones turned into an inning-ending double play to keep the score at 1-0.
Payton Tolle was forced out after 4.2 innings, replaced by Erik Miller, to pitch to Ben Rice. Despite having a .422 slugging percentage on sinkers, Rice took a 1-1 sinker and sent it over the center-field fence to make it 2-0.
Schlittler’s day concluded after a one-out single to right-center field by Wilyer Abreu. He ended the night going 1-for-3 with a strikeout. Unfortunately for Boston, Paul Blackburn coaxed a double-play ball from Ceddanne Rafaela to end the inning.
Alec Gamboa proceeded to load the bases in the seventh inning with no outs. Once again, Ben Rice delivered with an RBI single to make it 3-0. What could’ve been a two-run single by Luis Garcia Jr. turned into a web gem by Nick Sogard and a double play, although another Yankee run scored.
Wells secured his second RBI of the game in the eighth inning with a sacrifice fly. Rice followed up two batters later with a grand slam for his second home run of the night, also on a sinker, this time from Brayan Bello.
Boston forced Schlittler to throw six or more pitches in 10 of his 22 batters faced. The batters were putting together fine at-bats in terms of extending Schlittler’s pitch count, although it didn’t result in great results at the plate. Adley Rutschman’s first at-bat in particular seemed like a sign of good things for the Red Sox: a 10-pitch at-bat that ended with a blooped base hit to left field. Although it didn’t work out, it’s not because Schlittler didn’t throw a lot of pitches. It worked because Yankees manager Aaron Boone had faith in him and let him ride.
As mentioned on the broadcast, his 117 pitches in this game are the most by a Yankees pitcher in a game since CC Sabathia threw 120 in Game 1 of the 2012 ALDS against the Baltimore Orioles. He’s now gone 17 straight innings against the Red Sox without allowing a run. This is the sixth time this season Schlittler has thrown 100 or more pitches, with only nine starts in which he threw under 90 pitches.
Paul Blackburn wound up pitching 1.2 innings while allowing one hit immediately after Schlittler’s exit. Former Red Sox reliever John Schreiber closed it out, pitching a scoreless ninth inning. Boston got four baserunners the entire game, with Trevor Story’s eighth-inning double being the first and only time the Red Sox got a runner in scoring position.
Both of Ben Rice’s home runs came on sinkers, a pitch that he has struggled with this season compared to regular fastballs. Boston brought in Erik Miller to face Rice, giving him another opportunity to attack a matchup in which Rice had struggled this season. However, Rice persevered through it to give the Yankees a multi-run lead. Rice’s eighth-inning grand slam added insult to injury.
The Yankees did the same thing the Red Sox tried against Schlittler to get better results. The Red Sox needed to use five separate bullpen arms after Tolle’s exit, including three in the eighth inning alone. Those guys were Miller, Greg Weissert, Gamboa, Wyatt Olds, and Bello. Using that much bullpen depth forces Boston to think more about their decisions concerning the bullpen, considering six of their 12 pitchers on the postseason roster got used this game.
Game two will take place on Wednesday at Yankee Stadium once again. The Yankees will look to Max Fried to clinch the series, as Boston looks to Sonny Gray to extend it to a game three.
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