Cam Schlittler walked to the mound at Citizens Bank Park on Friday night carrying a 2.20 ERA and the look of a man who’d been told his last start — five-and-change against the Dodgers — wasn’t good enough. What he did next was the kind of thing that makes you stop fiddling with the bullpen phone and just watch.
Schlittler carved through the Philadelphia Phillies for 7⅓ shutout innings, allowing three hits, zero walks, and striking out 12 on 99 pitches — 68 of them strikes. The Yankees won 1-0, and the only run of the night came on Paul Goldschmidt’s opposite-field solo homer off Jesús Luzardo in the fourth inning.
That was it. One swing. One run. And a pitching performance that made it hold up like a stone wall in a West Texas pasture.
Schlittler struck out every man in the Phillies’ batting order except Kyle Schwarber. He didn’t issue a single free pass. Through the first three innings, he’d retired the side in order without allowing a ball to leave the infield. Schwarber’s fourth-inning double was the first hit off him all night, and Schlittler responded by retiring the next two batters to strand him at second.
Luzardo was nearly as good. The Phillies lefty threw seven innings, gave up three hits, one run, one walk, and struck out nine. He matched Schlittler zero for zero until Goldschmidt’s line drive cleared the wall in the fourth, and after that, neither pitcher blinked. Two thoroughbreds running neck and neck down the backstretch.
The eighth inning is where it got interesting. Schlittler got one out, then gave up a single to J.T. Realmuto and hit Gabriel Rincones Jr. with a pitch. Aaron Boone came out and took the ball. Brent Headrick came in from the bullpen and immediately gave up a single to Edmundo Sosa that loaded the bases. Trea Turner lined out to left — not deep enough to score a run. Schwarber worked the count full. Headrick got him to ground out. Jam escaped, lead preserved.
David Bednar handled the ninth. He struck out Bryce Harper swinging, got a leaping catch from Cody Bellinger near the left-field wall for the second out, and ended it with Alec Bohm’s grounder. Bednar’s 19th save. Schlittler’s 10th win.
The victory pushed the Yankees to 58-45 and dropped the Phillies to 56-48 in the opener of their three-game set at Citizens Bank Park.
Schlittler’s season ERA dropped to 2.07. Among American League pitchers with at least 75 innings, that’s the best in the league. His 0.93 WHIP ranks second, behind only Detroit’s Tarik Skubal. The film doesn’t lie — the kid’s been as good as anybody in the junior circuit, and Friday night in Philadelphia was just the latest reel.
The series continues Saturday evening at 6:05 p.m., with Ryan Weathers scheduled to start for New York.
