NEW YORK -- More and more over the past couple of weeks, it’s starting to feel like Yankees starter Cam Schlittler is on the verge of tossing a no-hitter each time he touches the mound.
On Tuesday night against the Rockies, it seemed like the beginning of another brilliant outing, with the right-hander sitting at 99.9 mph with his four-seamer and breezing through the top of the visitors' lineup in 10 pitches.
When it was time for manager Aaron Boone to hand the game over to the Yankees’ bullpen, the final line for Schlittler wasn’t flawless, but it was another worthy addition to the right-hander’s case for the American League Cy Young Award.
Schlittler tossed seven innings of one-run ball in New York’s 5-3 win, allowing one run or fewer for the 20th time this season, extending his franchise record and the most in the Majors this year.
Facing three batters over the minimum, Schlittler had one blip, Adael Amador’s solo home run in the third inning. Otherwise, he was stunning once again, notching 10 strikeouts and allowing three hits and no walks. It was Schlittler’s fourth start this season with 10 strikeouts or more, with each one coming with no walks.
Schlittler’s latest scoreless outing lowered his ERA to 2.01, which is the fourth-lowest mark by a Yankees pitcher through his first 30 starts (since 1913), behind Stan Bahnsen (2.01, 1968), Ron Guidry (1.77, 1978) and Spud Chandler (1.64, 1943).
Schlittler utilized the different variations of his fastball, his weapons of choice all season, to dominate the Rockies’ lineup. He threw his four-seam fastball 50% of the time, generating 13 swings and misses on the heater alone and notching seven strikeouts. What stood out was how efficient Schlittler was at getting ahead with the hard stuff as well -- he earned a 73% first-pitch strike rate (8-for-11) with the four-seamer and an 83% first-pitch strike rate with his cutter (5-for-6).