Cam Schlittler dominates as Red Sox bats go silent in Game 1
1)All year, it was clear the Red Sox’ downfall would come as a result of the offense not picking up the slack despite an elite pitching staff. That came true in the first game of the playoffs as Boston’s bats were silenced by Schlittler — who was stretched out to a career-high 117 pitches — and struck out 10. After ranking last in the majors in a bunch of offensive categories in September, the Red Sox had three hits, did not advance a runner to second base until the eighth and hit just two balls harder than 99 mph. They were outhit, 12-3, in a game that was close for six innings before Rice — who launched a solo shot earlier in the game — broke things open with a grand slam in the eighth.
Questionable handling of the pitching staff played a huge role on a night in which Chad Tracy didn’t seem to be chasing a win. To make matters worse, the Red Sox appeared to lose Roman Anthony to a hand injury in the process. Overall, it was about as bad as it gets for the Red Sox, who will now need to win two games behind starters Sonny Gray and Ranger Suarez to save their season.
2) Just like last year in a similar situation, Schlittler proved utterly unhittable. The Cy Young favorite had a career-high 24 swings-and-misses in 6 ⅓ shutout innings while holding the Red Sox to three baserunners (two singles and a walk).
Schlittler used a different-looking pitch mix (with more curveball usage) to strike out 10. He was in control for his entire outing and went back out for the seventh despite having already thrown 107 pitches. He got Willson Contreras to line out, then allowed a single to Wilyer Abreu before being lifted. Paul Blackburn then came in and got an inning-ending double play to finish off the seventh.
In two postseason outings against the Red Sox in the last 12 months, the Walpole native struck out 22 batters and allowed seven hits in 14 ⅓ shutout innings. If anything, he has backed up his smack talk.
3) As if losing wasn’t bad enough, the Red Sox also lost one of their better players to injury. Anthony lasted two at-bats (both strikeouts) and played five innings in the field before the Sox pulled him for Monasterio, who pinch-hit (and struck out) in the sixth.
The Red Sox never announced why Anthony was removed, which was strange. Tracy said he had felt discomfort in the right hand near the area where a torn ligament had sidelined him for months. After the game, Anthony was not available to reporters and the Red Sox media relations staff said he had left Yankee Stadium.
4) The game featured more than one questionable decision when it came to the pitching staff as Chad Tracy chose not to chase a win in the opener of a best-of-three series. It’s worthwhile to second-guess why he lifted an effective Payton Tolle at just 83 pitches with two outs in the fifth (and paid the price when Erik Miller served up Rice’s first home run). But the real questions surround where the Sox went while trying to keep the game close in the late innings.
Trailing 2-0 after Greg Weissert got three straight outs in a scoreless sixth, Tracy left intriguing options like Jake Bennett, Brayan Bello and Garrett Crochet in his bullpen and turned things over to rookie Alec Gamboa, who didn’t record an out while allowing two runs (and the lead to balloon to 4-0). From there, another rookie took over in the form of Wyatt Olds. He allowed a parade of baserunners in the eighth. By the time Bello entered, it was 5-0, and he looked mighty shaky while serving up the kill shot, Rice’s grand slam.
With Tyron Guerrero and Justin Slaten injured and Erik Miller struggling down the stretch, it felt like bridging a game from the starter to the back-end duo of Garrett Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman would be a difficult ask for the Red Sox. That proved true in Game 1 as Boston seemed to punt late — and allowed the Yankees to save their high-leverage relievers for the next two nights. It was certainly a head-scratching evening for the dugout.
5) In his first career postseason start, Tolle was effective, even if he couldn’t match the otherworldly Schlittler. Thanks to the lack of offensive output, Tolle took the loss despite pitching well.
After allowing eight hits to Cleveland in 5 ⅔ innings in his last regular season start, the rookie faced a similar traffic parade in the Bronx. He allowed five hits and walked a batter in 4 ⅔ frames but held New York to just one run by constantly working out of jams.
Three key sequences saved the line for Tolle, who left after throwing 83 pitches and holding the Yankees to a 1-for-7 performance with runners in scoring position. In the first, he got two straight outs after Ben Rice electrified the crowd with a one-out double. In the second, after Austin Wells’ RBI single opened the scoring, Tolle got Paul Goldschmidt to ground out to end the inning. The fourth inning brought three quick outs with two men on, including a 5-4 double play in which Caleb Durbin caught a soft liner, then doubled George Lombard Jr. off second when he strayed too far from the bag.
6) Tracy’s first chess move as a postseason manager backfired immediately when he lifted Tolle after 83 pitches and 4 ⅔ innings and went to Miller so that Tolle didn’t have to face Ben Rice for a third time. Rice responded with a 108 mph, 423-foot homer to dead center.
In the moment, it felt a little overaggressive considering Tolle had gotten the first two outs of the inning on eight pitches. But there was clearly a script in place and following it didn’t work.It turned out to be foreshadowing for more bad decisions later. Trusting Gamboa and Olds over more proven options like Bennett and Bello to start a short series is a major second-guess worth discussing.
7) New York’s first run against Tolle came due to some aggressiveness on behalf of third base coach Luis Rojas paying off. With two on and two out, Austin Wells laced a hard-hit single into right field and Rojas, trying to steal a run, sent George Lombard Jr. home. A good throw from Wilyer Abreu would have beat Lombard but Abreu, in a rare defensive misstep, badly misfired up the third base line and the Yankees went up 1-0.
8) The Red Sox gave themselves a fighting chance by driving up Schlittler’s pitch count enough to chase him from the game before the end of the seventh in large part due to two good at-bats that came innings apart. In the first, Adley Rutschman won a 10-pitch battle with a flare, causing Schlittler to need 22 pitches to escape the inning. In the fourth, Jarren Duran saw seven pitches and took a 3-2 heater to walk.
Without those two at-bats, it would have been an even longer night for the Sox’ offense.
9) If this were the regular season, Contreras likely wouldn’t have played as he nurses a sore hand that was the result of a hit-by-pitch in Texas on September 17. He played, though, and had two non-competitive strikeouts to start his night before lining out in the seventh. He then struck out swinging to end the game.
10) Game 2 of the series will feature two veteran starters who are multi-time All-Stars. The Red Sox will start Gray, who went 18-5 with a 2.72 ERA, against his former team with the season on the line. New York will counter with Max Fried, who posted a 5-5 record and 2.80 ERA this year.
The Red Sox lost to Fried in the first round last year, with the lefty tossing 6 ⅓ shutout innings.
First pitch is again set for 8:00 p.m. ET with the game airing on NBC and Peacock.
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