CHICAGO -- The Yankees made Cam Schlittler wait for about 20 minutes while their offense put up four first-inning runs. Once he got to the mound, the right-hander overwhelmed the White Sox, delivering another brilliant performance.
The drama developed deeper into the evening, as a late rally against the bullpen stuck Schlittler with a no-decision and forced him to watch the Yankees fall, 6-5, in 12 innings.
“I thought we had a good battle there,” Schlittler said. “Some mental mistakes, but that’s baseball. It’s part of the game. I think the guys played really well. They just kind of got the edge there on us.”
Though he wasn’t rewarded with a victory, Schlittler continued to shine -- especially in his road grays. He struck out eight over 6 1/3 innings, holding the White Sox to a run. Schlittler said he watched Gerrit Cole closely on Tuesday and was inspired to show off his curveball early.
“They have a great lineup, one through nine,” Schlittler said. “They’re good hitters and they put the ball in play. I just wanted to establish that and get them off the heater, knowing going into it that was what their game plan was, seeing Gerrit yesterday.”
Overall, Schlittler has a 1.10 ERA in 14 road starts this season, having permitted 11 earned runs in 89 2/3 innings. That would be the second-lowest road ERA in the Live Ball Era; trailing only Bob Gibson, who had a 0.81 road ERA in his 1968 NL MVP season. It's also the lowest ERA by any pitcher in his first 14 road starts of a season since Roger Clemens in 2005 (1.00).
White Sox manager Will Venable called handling Schlittler “a really tough assignment” for his club.
“We talked all day about the fastball being the thing that we needed to solve, and still couldn't do it,” Venable said. “You know what he's going to do to you. He's got incredible stuff. It's hard and comes right at you. So credit to him for pitching really well, and credit our guys for continuing to battle.”
Coming off one of his best starts of the season, a 7 1/3-inning scoreless effort against the Phillies in which Yankees manager Aaron Boone said the 25-year-old seemed to “cruise,” Schlittler continued stacking zeroes against Chicago.
Setting the tone with a three-pitch strikeout of leadoff hitter Sam Antonacci, Schlittler retired the first 11 batters until Miguel Vargas’ fourth-inning single.
He faced one batter over the minimum through six innings, crediting his curve.
“Just being able to establish the curveball, I used the four-seam and the cutter and the two-seam off that,” Schlittler said. “I think I had it pretty good early on there.”
Schlittler encountered his first trouble of the evening in the seventh, when he walked Munetaka Murakami and hit Vargas with a pitch. Andrew Benintendi broke up the shutout bid with a run-scoring double that chased Schlittler, who permitted only two hits and threw 60 of 93 pitches for strikes.
“The walk there is frustrating,” Schlittler said. “Trying to go in there on Vargas, I hit him. They didn’t really earn it. I just kind of gave it to them. That’s frustrating, but that’s how it goes sometimes.”
Schlittler engaged in a lengthy conversation with Cole after he exited the game.
“I shook a pitch there to Benintendi and didn’t execute it,” Schlittler said. “I probably had more wiggle room with the pitch [catcher Austin Wells] called. That was on me. He ran me through the thought process of why the other pitch was a better option. He’s a great guy to lean on. He was still positive about the outing; it was just frustrating to leave it like that.”