Cam Schlittler’s final start of the regular season was short. Three innings against the Rays on Thursday, 70 pitches, five strikeouts, two runs, one earned. The Yankees took him out after the third, and he is lined up to start Game 1 of the Wild Card Series next week.
Three innings is usually the kind of start the uncles complain about. This one went into a record book.
It was the 25th time this season Schlittler allowed one earned run or fewer in a start. After his previous outing, Sports Illustrated counted 24 and noted that only Bob Gibson and Sandy Koufax had matched that since 1920, with Koufax alone at the top with 25. Now Schlittler is sitting next to him.
The rest of his season, per the AP:
- 1.95 ERA, the third-best in Yankees history, behind Spud Chandler (1.64 in 1943) and Ron Guidry (1.74 in 1978)
- 239 strikeouts, tied with Jack Chesbro’s 1904 total for fourth-most in franchise history
- One earned run or fewer in each of his last nine starts, matching Whitey Ford’s 1963 streak
MLB.com’s final Cy Young poll of the season, on Sept. 15, had him first on all 32 ballots in the American League. It was his first full season in the majors.
“To pass all the innings he’s ever thrown in his career so still being able to do it, still being able to go out there and give us length, it’s impressive,” Aaron Boone said.
“You look at the whole season and what I’ve been able to accomplish with the guys in this locker room, it’s been special,” Schlittler said.
The Yankees came back to win 6-4, mostly because of a 21-year-old shortstop and a play you should go watch (we wrote about it too).
As for the 25: it’s a strange stat, when you think about it. It doesn’t count wins. It doesn’t care about innings. It just asks one question, 25 times: did you keep the damage to one? He did. That’s the whole job, really. Some of us are still working on it.