David Lennon: Epic pitchers' duel turns into Bronx dud for Cam Schlittler, Yankees
Yankees starting pitcher Cam Schlittler and Tigers starting pitcher Tarik Skubal. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Nothing figured to stop Tarik Skubal from a three-peat as the American League Cy Young winner. The Tigers’ lefty ace has been the gold standard among MLB’s pitching ranks, and with a potential $300-million payday waiting this winter, another award-winning season of dominance was all but guaranteed.
Then came the meteoric rise of the Yankees’ Cam Schlittler, who went from shining at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre at this time a year ago to now being considered the favorite to end Skubal’s Cy Young reign. Not to mention the Yankees’ sophomore ace being on track to take over for him as the AL starter for next week’s All-Star Game, which was Skubal’s gig last season.
The first-half numbers favored Schlittler in a landslide, as Skubal has been slowed by elbow surgery to remove loose bodies a month ago. But Tuesday night provided the rare opportunity -- outside of a Game 1 playoff start -- for the two gunslingers to go head-to-head in the Bronx, where Schlittler shouldered the extra pressure of stopping the Yankees’ five-game losing streak.
Turns out, the epic duel was a dud. Schlittler labored through his worst start of the season -- serving up a career-high six runs, including four homers, in four-plus innings -- and Skubal silenced the hapless Yankees in a 9-3 loss to the Tigers as boos rained down from the crowd of 37,211.
As bad as Schlittler was, this probably would have been a much different night if Spencer Jones held on to Kerry Carpenter’s two-out missile in the first inning. Jones made a spectacular leaping grab -- reaching high above the bullpen fence -- to apparently rob Carpenter, but the ball popped out of his glove when his arm collided with the wall.
So Carpenter’s fly out became a home run, and Riley Greene followed with another blast, crushing a 98-mph sinker above the strike zone. After a Colt Keith single, Spencer Torkelson took Schlittler deep again, fouling off five two-strike pitches during the 10-pitch at-bat, to give the Tigers a 4-0 lead. At that point, Schlittler already was up to 30 pitches and Ryan Yarbrough was warming in the bullpen.
Schlittler needed 36 pitches to survive the first (none produced a swing-and-miss). Greene homered off him again in the third inning, this time drilling a 97-mph fastball for a two-run shot and 6-1 lead. Dillon Dingler’s leadoff double in the fifth ended his night, which inflated his ERA from 1.62 to 2.08, but still tops in the AL.
“I think really it comes down to two-strike execution,” Schlittler said. “And that’s not something I did well today. They got the better of me. I didn’t pitch that well, put us in a spot to lose early and really got to take it with a grain of salt -- have those experiences and prepare for next week.”
Skubal, who had a pedestrian 4.96 ERA in three starts since his June 13 return, got his revenge from last week’s three-homer beatdown by the Yankees. He allowed only one hit through six innings and retired 13 straight after Ben Rice’s homer in the first, striking out nine of 11 Yankees during that stretch. Skubal looked masterful, but the Yankees’ offense is so abysmal lately -- 16 hits over the last five games -- that this performance might deserve an asterisk.
“He’s always tough on guys for a reason,” Rice said. “Fills up the zone, has good stuff -- it was hard -- and he was able to execute.”
That was more like the dazzling Skubal we knew from 2021 through last season, when he led the majors with a 2.96 ERA and 1.01 WHIP among starters with a minimum of 600 innings. He was also second in K/9 rate (10.46) to Gerrit Cole (10.77), sixth in total starts (127) and seventh in innings (729).
By comparison, Schlittler is like a streaking comet, as Tuesday’s start was only No. 32 of his brief career. But his brilliance during that span, much like pre-surgery Skubal, has burned brighter than just about all of his peers before Tuesday’s clunker. This season, Schlittler had taken over Skubal’s top rankings across the board, leading the AL in ERA (1.62), K/BB rate (5.90) and strikeout rate (29.9%). He also was second in WHIP (0.92) and opponents batting average (.197) before Tuesday’s ugly glitch.
“I think he’s the best pitcher in the American League right now,” Skubal said on eve of Tuesday’s clash. “To do it at his age, and seeing his stuff -- it’s pretty dynamic and electric. Throws a ton of strikes, a lot of high velocity stuff ... goes right after guys and has performed in big moments too.”
“He’s a pretty impressive player at that stage in his career, so it speaks volumes about who he is behind the scenes, too. I don’t know him at all personally, but I’m sure we’d get along well.”
Hmm. Good to know. Was Skubal, 29, hinting at a preference to join Schlitter in a potential Yankees’ super-rotation before the Aug. 3 trade deadline? Or even coming over to the Bronx in free agency? That scenario could likely hinge on the health of Max Fried -- who passed his latest test coming back from an elbow bone bruise by cruising through Tuesday’s simulated two innings -- and the progress of Gerrit Cole, who’s had a bumpy few starts returning from Tommy John surgery.
Skubal is all but certain to be traded by the deadline, which meant Tuesday’s rematch vs. the Yankees carried some extra weight from his perspective. Based on how Schlittler performed, the Yankees may want to consider a Skubal deal more seriously in the weeks ahead.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
