NEW YORK – It was the rare pitchers’ duel that actually lived up to the hype, advertising both the present and the future for a pair of American League East rivals. Once the skies cleared over Yankee Stadium, Cam Schlittler and Trey Yesavage provided a window into what the next 10 years could look like for the Yankees and the Blue Jays.
Hard-throwing, dominant and already playoff-tested, the right-handers traded zeroes through six innings. As Schlittler left the mound stone-faced in the seventh, stomping down the dugout steps and pressing both hands to his cap in frustration, it was clear who had blinked first.
In the seventh, Schlittler lost Andrés Giménez to a bases-loaded walk, capping an 11-pitch battle. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. added a sacrifice fly facing Jake Bird, leaving the Yankees’ hurler on the long side of a 2-1 loss to Toronto.
Schlittler struck out seven over six-plus innings, scattering eight hits while walking two. He matched his season high with 106 pitches (70 for strikes). The outing snapped a string of six consecutive starts permitting one earned run or fewer for Schlittler, whose ERA rose slightly to 1.50.