Two Massachusetts Yankees Blank the Red Sox in Game 1

Cam Schlittler struck out 10 and Ben Rice drove in six as the Yankees shut out the Red Sox 9-0 in Wild Card Game 1.

The two Massachusetts natives did it on Tuesday, Sept. 29, at Yankee Stadium, with Aaron Judge left off the roster. New York can end the best-of-three on Wednesday, Sept. 30, when Max Fried faces Sonny Gray at 8 p.m. ET.

Schlittler Turns 117 Pitches on His Childhood Club

Schlittler, the 25-year-old Yankees right-hander from Walpole, Mass., grew up rooting for Boston and then spent 6 1/3 innings making that club look lost. He allowed two singles and a walk, never a runner past first, and threw a career-high 117 pitches, 77 of them strikes, after opening at 100.6 mph.

When Aaron Boone took the ball, a sellout crowd of 48,437 answered with MVP chants. Schlittler pointed the other way.

The job’s not done; we’ve got to get another win tomorrow. But it’s very well-known that if you want to be a legend, which is obviously the goal, you’ve got to do it in the postseason.

Cam Schlittler, Yankees pitcher, after Game 1 at Yankee Stadium

He had already used 107 pitches through six, matching his previous high from last October, and still went back out for the seventh. Willson Contreras lined out. Wilyer Abreu singled on the 10th pitch of the inning, and that was the night. Those 117 pitches are the most by a Yankee in a playoff game since CC Sabathia’s 121-pitch complete game in Game 5 of the 2012 AL Division Series against Baltimore, and the third most by a Yankee in the postseason since 2005, behind Sabathia’s 121 and 120 in that same series.

Catcher Austin Wells said the curve looked good in the bullpen, so they leaned on it. Outfielder Spencer Jones did not need the scouting report. “He was nasty,” Jones said. “I could tell after those first couple of pitches that he was ready for the moment.”

Boston manager Chad Tracy called him awfully good and noted the extra curveballs that landed for strikes and chased swings. The Red Sox still could not put a man on second. After Adley Rutschman’s 10-pitch bloop single in the first, Schlittler retired 13 in a row. Jarren Duran walked in the fifth. Abreu’s single in the seventh was the last of three baserunners.

Wells had already helped him once, winning an ABS challenge on Abreu for a called third strike that ended the first inning. Schlittler then told the room the chants were flattering and misplaced. “We’ve already got an MVP in this locker room; he’s won three of them,” he said. “I wouldn’t say I’m an MVP, but it’s good to kind of embrace that from the fans, knowing they trust me.”

A Record Night From the Cohasset Yankees Fan

Rice, the 27-year-old designated hitter from Cohasset, Mass., went 4-for-5 with two home runs and 6 RBIs, matching the most by a Yankee in a postseason game. It was New York’s first four-hit playoff game since Gleyber Torres in Game 1 of the 2020 Wild Card Series at Cleveland. Judge has been out since a right calf strain on Sept. 16 and is not on the 26-man roster. Rice, who hit 41 home runs and drove in 97 in the regular season, had the middle of the order to himself.

He chose the Yankees early. One trip to Fenway ended with a Yankees cap in his bag, and on a later visit he scrawled “Yankees Rule!” on Pesky’s Pole. The Massachusetts natives Schlittler and Rice were both signed out of Boston’s backyard by the same Yankees scout, Matt Hyde. “We love it,” Schlittler said. “We wouldn’t be here without Hyde.”

RICE’S FOUR HITS

• First inning: A double put New York on the board in the hit column before any run scored.
• Fifth inning: A 423-foot home run into Monument Park off a 96.8 mph sinker from left-hander Erik Miller made it 2-0.
• Seventh inning: A run-scoring single added on after the game had stayed tight.
• Eighth inning: A grand slam into the bullpen off Brayan Bello, the 16th slam by a Yankee in the postseason, finished a five-run inning.

Anthony Volpe, who started at shortstop, did not sound shocked. “It was pretty incredible, if I’m being honest,” Volpe said. “But I don’t think anyone is surprised. That’s just what he does.”

Rice called it one of the best games of his career and then aimed the memory at the opponent. “I’ll remember getting a ‘W’ versus the Red Sox, there’s nothing better than that,” he said. “I’ll remember Cam going out there and just being lights-out, like he always is.”

Rice guys finish blast. pic.twitter.com/afe7NqeqKB

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) September 30, 2026

A 2-0 Game Turned Into a 9-0 Final

The final looked like a laugher. It was a 2-0 game entering the bottom of the seventh. Payton Tolle, Boston’s left-handed starter, gave the Red Sox a chance they did not use. He allowed one run on five hits in 4 2/3 innings, with four strikeouts and one walk on 83 pitches, 58 for strikes. Wells’ two-out single in the second scored the first run. Tracy pulled Tolle with Rice on deck in the fifth rather than let him see New York’s hottest bat a third time. Miller missed, and Rice did not.

Rookie infielder George Lombard Jr., 21, went 3-for-4 with two runs in his postseason debut. The Yankees then scored in the seventh and poured on five in the eighth. Paul Blackburn needed 18 pitches for five outs. John Schreiber threw 11 pitches in the ninth. Boston finished with three hits. Schlittler had already done the hard part while the score was still small.

HOW THE YANKEES SCORED

1. Second inning: Wells singles with two on against Tolle, and New York leads 1-0.
2. Fifth inning: Rice homers to center off Miller for a 2-0 lead.
3. Seventh inning: Rice’s RBI single is part of a rally that finally moves a 2-0 game.
4. Eighth inning: A five-run inning, capped by Rice’s slam off Bello, makes it 9-0.

Leadoff man Roman Anthony was gone by then. He faced Schlittler twice, took a string of 100 mph fastballs, and left in the sixth with renewed pain in his right hand and wrist, the same area that cost him nearly four months this season. Tracy said after the game he did not yet know the severity. Anthony’s status for Wednesday is in doubt, and Boston’s September bats already were.

Last October’s Closer Wrote the Sequel

A year ago, in Game 3 of the same round, Schlittler threw eight scoreless innings with 12 strikeouts and no walks, the first pitcher in postseason history to do that, and the Yankees won 4-0. He said then that some Boston fans had crossed a line. This time he said the rage bait was lighter. “I think they learned their lesson last year,” he said, and he still kept the receipts he could find.

The two Wild Card starts against Boston now sit next to each other as a single problem the Red Sox have not solved.

SCHLITTLER VS. BOSTON IN THE WILD CARD

That is 14 1/3 scoreless innings, 22 strikeouts, and one walk in two playoff starts against the same club. He is the sixth pitcher in postseason history with two scoreless starts of at least 10 strikeouts, and the first Yankee on a list that includes Justin Verlander (three), Sandy Koufax, Kevin Brown, Randy Johnson, and Cliff Lee. He is the youngest to do it. Both of those games came against Boston, a club only Bob Gibson had also struck out 10 against twice in the playoffs.

The regular-season ledger is the same story in a longer form. In six career starts against the Red Sox, including the playoffs, Schlittler is 4-1 with two earned runs in 38 2/3 innings and 49 strikeouts. That lowest ERA in six starts against Boston is 0.47, the lowest by any pitcher in his first six career starts against the Red Sox, playoffs included, since earned runs became official in 1913. His two 10-strikeout playoff games tie Orlando Hernandez, Bob Turley, Roger Clemens, and Mike Mussina for the most in Yankees postseason history. He has 10 strikeouts in two of his first three career playoff starts, a club that had included only Stephen Strasburg.

The 2026 regular season underneath all of that was 14-6 with a 1.95 ERA, 239 strikeouts, and a 0.92 WHIP in 193.2 innings over 33 starts, the lowest Yankees ERA since Ron Guidry’s 1.74 in 1978. Boone still debated whether to use him in Game 1 or hold him for a chance to close the series. He gave him the ball on Tuesday. The 117th pitch was the cost of that choice, and the shutout was the return.

Who Starts Game 2 After the Shutout?

Max Fried, the Yankees’ left-hander, starts Wednesday against Sonny Gray at Yankee Stadium, first pitch 8 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock. Fried went 5-5 with a 2.80 ERA in 112 2/3 innings this season after two stays on the injured list for a left elbow bone bruise. He held Boston to one run in 11 2/3 innings over two starts this year, including eight scoreless innings at Fenway on April 22. A year ago to the day of Game 1, he threw 6 1/3 scoreless innings against these same Red Sox and the Yankees still lost 3-1. His next playoff start, in Toronto, went for seven runs. Wednesday is the repair job.

Gray, 36, is in his first season with Boston and went 18-5 with a 2.72 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP in 169 innings, 20 quality starts. He is 1-0 with a 1.98 ERA in two starts against New York this year (three earned runs in 13 2/3 innings) and 3-3 with a 3.67 ERA in 10 career starts against the Yankees. His playoff line is 1-3 with a 3.26 ERA in six starts, the last of them for Minnesota in the 2023 ALDS. He did not work Tuesday. Neither did Aroldis Chapman or Garrett Whitlock, so the Boston bullpen is intact if Gray can keep the night close enough to use it.

New York did not need David Bednar. Rainouts against Baltimore on Saturday and Sunday had already given both bullpens extra rest. Jazz Chisholm Jr. is expected back at second base against the right-hander after Anthony Volpe started Game 1. Boone has said Chisholm’s September wrist and Volpe’s play made a platoon possible, a split Chisholm did not like and will not have to live with on Wednesday if the right-handed matchup holds.

Fried Gets the Ball With Boston on the Brink

Boston scored the fewest runs in the majors in September, 3.0 per game across 24 games, and hit.219 with a.651 OPS. Tuesday was the same lineup in a louder room. Dating to Schlittler’s Game 3 last year, the Red Sox have not scored in two straight postseason games, the first time they have been shut out in consecutive playoff games in franchise history. Wilyer Abreu still talked like a club with two games left. “We can come back and win the series,” he said. “We still have two more games, so I’m very optimistic about our team.”

History is colder than that. Teams that take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three Wild Card Series have gone on to win it 21 of 24 times (88%), with 17 two-game sweeps. Home teams that go up 1-0 are 9-0 in those series, with eight sweeps. The Yankees finished the regular season 93-68, the top American League wild card. The Red Sox finished 87-75. Boone refused the bigger speech. “It’s one win, so we’ve got the blinders on,” he said. “But it’s a confident group, knowing that if we play our game, we can beat anyone.”

The job on Tuesday belonged to a Walpole pitcher who used to cheer the other side and a Cohasset hitter who wrote his allegiance on Fenway’s pole as a kid. Fried takes the ball on Wednesday with that 9-0 still on the board and Boston still looking for its first run of this October.