Cam Schlittler struck out 13 in six overpowering innings and the New York Yankees beat the Cincinnati Reds 5-0 on Friday night, another tidy display of how a heavily resourced club can grind down a weaker one on command. Schlittler, who improved to 8-3, recorded his first double-digit strikeout game in the regular season while the Reds were left chasing fastballs and the scoreboard at the same time.
Who Had the Upper Hand
The Yankees did not need much help from the rest of the lineup once Schlittler took control. Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a solo homer and Ben Rice hit a three-run shot in the second inning against Rhett Lowder, who fell to 3-4. Anthony Volpe added a late RBI single. That was enough offense to back a pitcher who made the game feel closed before Cincinnati could get settled.
Schlittler threw first-pitch strikes to 15 of 23 hitters and got five strikeouts on his four-seam fastball, which averaged 97.9 mph. He had four strikeouts apiece on cutters and sinkers. He eclipsed the 12 strikeouts he had over eight innings in the deciding Game 3 of last year’s AL Wild Card Series against rival Boston. At 25 years, 134 days, Schlittler became the youngest Yankees pitcher with 13 strikeouts since Al Downing, who was 22 years, 359 days old when he also fanned 13 against the Chicago White Sox on June 21, 1964. Schlittler also became the youngest Yankees pitcher to strike out 13 without issuing a walk.
What the Reds Were Left With
The Reds spent most of the night absorbing the consequences. Schlittler threw 66 of 96 pitches for strikes and got his 10th strikeout when Eugenio Suárez swung at a 99.1 mph sinker to end the fourth. He caught Matt McLain looking at a 100 mph fastball in the fifth and got his final strikeout with a 98 mph fastball against JJ Bleday in the sixth. Schlittler allowed four hits and exited to a standing ovation after stranding two runners in the sixth.
He finished with a 1.71 ERA, the lowest for a Yankees pitcher through 16 starts in a season since Whitey Ford had a 1.47 ERA in 1964. Three relievers completed a four-hitter as the Reds struck out 17 times. Cincinnati lost for the 11th time in 16 games since losing Elly De La Cruz to a strained right hamstring. De La Cruz hit a 441-foot homer in his first minor league rehab game for Triple-A Louisville.
The Schedule Keeps Moving
Lowder allowed four runs and six hits in 5 1/3 innings. The numbers were plain enough: one side had the depth, the velocity and the margin for error; the other side got run over and kept moving because the machine never stops. Cincinnati LHP Andrew Abbott (4-4, 3.95 ERA) was scheduled to face New York RHP Will Warren (7-1, 3.47) on Saturday afternoon.
The game ended with the Yankees’ pitcher leaving to applause after shutting down the Reds, while Cincinnati’s recent slide continued to stack up losses. In the language of the box score, that is just another Friday night. In the language of hierarchy, it is a club with more force, more control and more room to impose its will on a team already missing one of its key players.