Rookie Cam Schlittler was nearly perfect in his seventh career start and the New York Yankees were riding the highs of eight wins in 10 games last Wednesday.
What followed was a frustrating weekend for the Yankees at home against the Boston Red Sox. Schlittler will be on the mound Monday night when New York hosts the Washington Nationals in the opener of a three-game series.
The Yankees are 10-6 in their past 16 games but dropped three of four at home to Boston. New York was outscored 19-4 in the first three outings before avoiding the sweep with a 7-2 victory on Sunday night when Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a pair of two-run homers and Trent Grisham slugged a pair of solo shots.
“Definitely not the weekend we wanted to have, especially coming off a really good road trip, but a good win nonetheless,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.
Schlittler (1-2, 3.22 ERA) is taking the mound for the first time since retiring the first 18 hitters in Wednesday’s game at Tampa Bay. The right-hander allowed a hit to open the seventh and the Yankees squandered a late lead before escaping with a 6-4, 10-inning win.
“Wow what a performance,” Boone said after Schlittler lost his perfect game bid on a Chandler Simpson single. “The stuff was overwhelming. It was probably the best breaking ball he had all year to go with the big fastball, and he was just so efficient. He was living in the strike zone, filling it up.”
Schlittler has allowed three earned runs or fewer in each of his first seven starts since making his debut July 9 against the Seattle Mariners. Schlittler struck out a career-high eight in limiting the Rays to one hit and no runs in a career-best 6 2/3 innings Wednesday after not completing more than 5 1/3 frames in his previous six starts.
Washington, which took two of three in New York in the 2023 season, has split its past 18 games since Aug. 6.
The Nationals are 16-24 under interim manager Miguel Cairo and dropped two of three to the host Philadelphia Phillies. On Sunday, Washington was held to five hits and struck out 12 times in a 3-2 loss.
The Nationals opened their series in Philadelphia with a 5-4 win on Friday. In two losses Saturday (6-4) and Sunday, they went a combined 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position and struck out 24 times, including 11 times in seven innings against Philadelphia starter Ranger Suarez.
“We had a couple chances, though,” Washington center fielder Jacob Young said. “Our pitchers kept us in the game. We had a couple chances to come back and win the game, and that’s all you can really ask for.”
Luis Garcia Jr. homered for the second consecutive contest, but James Wood went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts after hitting .304 (17-for-56) in his previous 14 games.
Brad Lord (4-6, 3.46), who is 3-5 with a 3.90 ERA in 12 starts this season, opens the series for Washington. Lord is 2-1 with a 3.48 ERA in five starts since returning to the rotation on July 28.
Lord last pitched Wednesday at home when he allowed four runs on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings to earn the win against the New York Mets.