NEW YORK — Back in Boston, they’re the two that got away.
Cam Schlittler pitched another playoff gem against the Red Sox, and Ben Rice also burned their hometown team with a late grand slam and six RBIs as the New York Yankees opened this Wild Card Series rematch by romping to a 9-0 victory Tuesday night.
With the Yankees minus star slugger Aaron Judge because of a calf injury, Rice homered twice, doubled and had four hits to power the offense. Schlittler, a clear frontrunner for the AL Cy Young Award, struck out 10 in a dominant performance reminiscent of the one that ended Boston’s season last year.
Rice and Schlittler were both raised among Red Sox fans in Massachusetts and went to college in New England before getting plucked by the Yankees out of Boston’s backyard in baseball’s amateur draft.
“Pretty remarkable,” New York manager Aaron Boone said. “Obviously that’s been a storyline for a couple of years now. For them to go out and have that kind of night together to start this postseason, pretty amazing and kind of hard to grasp a little bit, frankly, but I’m certainly glad we have those two.”
Rice was actually a Yankees fan while growing up outside Boston.
“Wearing the Yankees jersey to the first-grade picture day probably got some weird looks,” he said.
“Definitely adds, like, a cool little layer to it, and for Cam, too. It’s always fun playing against them. And having a solid game against them is pretty cool.”
No. 9 batter Austin Wells drove in two runs and 21-year-old rookie George Lombard Jr. had three hits for New York in his postseason debut.
Schlittler, who led the American League with a 1.95 ERA, allowed only two singles and one walk in 6 1/3 innings without letting a runner reach second base. He threw 117 pitches — 10 more than his previous career high and most by a Yankees postseason starter since Hall of Fame lefty CC Sabathia threw 121 in the 2012 AL Division Series against Baltimore.
“I got a little greedy,” Boone said.
The major league high this season was 120 by Dylan Cease for Toronto at Boston in July.
The 25-year-old Schlittler retired 13 straight batters before a two-out walk in the fifth, bringing several chants of “MVP! MVP!” from the sellout crowd of 48,437 in the Bronx. He walked off the mound to a standing ovation after yielding a one-out single in the seventh, and Paul Blackburn promptly got Ceddanne Rafaela to ground into an inning-ending double play that preserved a 2-0 lead.
New York outhit Boston 12-3 in the fifth postseason shutout since 2002 for the Yankees, who led the majors in ERA this year for the first time since 1957.
Game 2 in the best-of-three series at Yankee Stadium is Wednesday night, when a victory would send New York into a best-of-five Division Series against AL East champion Tampa Bay.
Going into this postseason, Game 1 winners had advanced 15 times in the 16 best-of-three Wild Card Series since the format was implemented in 2022. The only exception was the Red Sox last year.
Boston and New York have split six previous postseason matchups. The Yankees took last year’s Wild Card Series between the longtime rivals on the strength of Schlittler’s dominant performance in Game 3, when the rookie struck out 12 over eight innings in a 4-0 win.
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Schlittler has said he received on-line abuse before some of his outings against Boston. He’s used it as motivation.
The right-hander is 4-1 with a 0.47 ERA and 49 strikeouts in six career starts against the Red Sox — including the playoffs.
“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,” Schlittler said.
Rice gave the Yankees a 2-0 lead with a 423-foot solo homer into Monument Park in straightaway center field on the third pitch from left-handed reliever Erik Miller, who replaced Payton Tolle with two outs in the fifth after the rookie starter threw 83 pitches.
The 27-year-old Rice added a run-scoring single with the bases loaded in the seventh and a grand slam to right-center that capped a five-run eighth.
The 16th slam in Yankees postseason history gave Rice six RBIs, matching the franchise record for a postseason game accomplished by four other players.
Rice also homered in Game 2 of last year’s Wild Card Series. He led New York with 41 homers, 97 RBIs and an .897 OPS this year in his third major league season.
“I’ll remember getting a W versus the Red Sox. There’s nothing better than that,” Rice said. “I’ll remember Cam going out there and just being lights out, like he always is. I’ll remember the atmosphere. It was just an awesome night. Great way to kick off the series.”
