The New York Yankees registered a 5-1 win against the Tampa Bay Rays in the series opener on Monday after a dominant performance from ace Cam Schlittler.
Schittler, who had a strong rookie season last year, had the worst outing of his career in his last start against the Detroit Tigers as he was taken for six earned runs over four innings.
His outing sparked the narrative of his regression in the second season of his career. However, the Yankees ace dismissed the notion after holding the Rays to just one earned run over eight innings on Monday.
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“They want to say there’s fuc*in* regression because I have one bad outing, so again, it was personal to go out there and have a dominant start and put this team in the right position,” Schlitter said.
Contrary to the narrative of his regression, Schlitter has an AL-best 2.01 ERA after 19 starts and earned his first All-Star selection this season. He had a 2.96 ERA over 14 starts in his rookie year.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone not surprised by Cam Schlitter’s dominance
Cam Schlitter threw 72 of 101 pitches for strikes and finished the night with eight strikeouts. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said he wasn’t “surprised” by Schlitter’s dominance against the Rays.
“It was huge. I’m not surprised he bounced back,” Boone said. “He was dominant, he was efficient and it was a great way to get the road trip started.”
Yankees infielder Jose Caballero, who backed Schlitter’s start with two home runs, praised the ace for his special outing.
“He’s great. He’s electric,” Caballero said. “It’s always special, every time he is pitching. We know it’s going to be a quick one. He’s going to attack the hitters. As a defender, we like that. We don’t stay in the field for too long.”
Although Schlitter is leading the race for being the AL starter at Citizens Bank Park on July 14, his pitching schedule with the Yankees will decide his All-Star role.
Edited by Chaitanya Prakash