NEW YORK -- Cam Schlittler has spent most of his brief big league career dominating opponents, which is why a matchup against the Tigers’ Tarik Skubal should have been electric: this year’s American League’s Cy Young Award front-runner taking on an ace who has already brought home the hardware twice.
The anticipated duel didn’t materialize as the Yankees had imagined. Skubal breezily outpitched Schlittler, who permitted four home runs and six early runs -- both career highs -- leading to a fifth-inning exit from Tuesday night’s 9-3 loss to the Tigers at Yankee Stadium.
“Not good,” Schlittler said. “I got ahead a lot in the first, just didn’t execute with two strikes. For a team that likes to put the ball in the air off fastballs, I just didn’t get the job done. I just didn’t make the right pitches when it mattered.”
Limited to four hits (and only two before the ninth inning), the Yankees (48-37) dropped their sixth consecutive game, finishing a 12-14 June with nine losses in their last 11 contests.
“We know we have a lot of talent,” said Ben Rice, who hit his team-leading 23rd homer. “It’s such a long season. It just so happens that right now, it’s kind of like the whole team is going through something all at once.”
While Skubal struck out nine and limited the Yankees to two runs (one earned) over six innings, Schlittler served up three homers in a 36-pitch first inning.
Kerry Carpenter, Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson all took Schlittler deep. The right-hander hadn’t allowed more than one homer in any of his other 17 starts this season.
“He was just missing locations,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Then some long at-bats added up against him. I’m confident that Cam will grow from this. This will be something that kind of fuels him.”
Carpenter’s drive came on a cutter and smacked the glove of center fielder Spencer Jones, who nearly made a leaping grab. The ball popped out when Jones hit the wall, and it fell into the Yankees’ bullpen for a homer.
Had Jones made the catch, Schlittler would’ve had a nine-pitch first inning.
“I don’t think that should have a big effect, and I don’t think it did,” Boone said.
Instead, Greene followed by clobbering a sinker for a drive into the second deck in right field. Two batters later, Torkelson ended a 10-pitch at-bat by clipping a Schlittler cutter for a two-run homer to left field.
Greene added a two-run shot in the third inning off Schlittler, who went into Tuesday’s start with an 8-4 record and a 1.62 ERA.
“He’s a hell of a player,” Skubal said. “He’s a really good talent. The stuff coming out of his hand is really special, and he’s proven that this year. He’s the best pitcher in the American League. Even after today’s game, I bet he still has the lowest ERA in the American League.”
Skubal was correct – at 2.08, Schlittler still holds a lead on the Rays’ Drew Rasmussen (2.45). While Schlittler relies heavily on a three-fastball mix (four-seam, cutter, sinker), the Tigers forced him to pivot more to his curveball.
“He throws hard, and we were on time for the heater,” Carpenter said. “Everything else kind of flows off of that.”
Incorporating the curve represented a silver lining for Schlittler, who exited after surrendering a double to Dillon Dingler to open the fifth. He allowed seven hits, walked one and struck out five on 85 pitches (56 strikes).
“Second time through the order, establishing the curveball was really good,” Schlittler said. “You would think there aren’t any positives to come out of that outing. Unfortunately, it was a couple of batters too late.”
Dealt tough hands in the past two games by excellent arms in Skubal and Casey Mize, the Yankees’ offensive woes continued. Tuesday marked their first time in five games registering more than three hits, and Boone said his hitters “need to start getting our offensive mojo back.”
“Everyone’s pissed,” Anthony Volpe said. “We’ve just got to do what we’ve got to do, and do our jobs to get a win. It starts from there.”
Rice’s homer snapped an 0-for-18 stretch in which he has struggled in part because of Aaron Judge’s absence, among others. He has had plenty of company in the tough-times department; the Yankees just weren’t expecting to add Schlittler to the list.
“It’s frustrating. We’re just not playing good ball right now,” Schlittler said. “It’s my job to come in here and try and stop that bleeding, and I couldn’t get that done. It’s taken a while to experience an outing like that, so I’ve just got to take what I can from it and get ready for next week.”