1. It’s possible the Yankees have four No. 1 starters when healthy in Cam Schlittler, Max Fried, Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon. It’s also possible Schlittler — the youngest and least experienced of the group — is the actual No. 1 among them.
Schlittler pitched to a 2.96 ERA with 84 strikeouts in 73 innings in 14 regular-season starts last year. He then went on to have a historical performance in Game 3 of the Wild Card Series to eliminate the Red Sox and proved to be the only Yankees starter capable of handling the Blue Jays in the ALDS. He has returned this year to throw 5 1/3, one-hit, scoreless innings against the Giants on a limited pitch count and then another 6 1/3, two-hit, scoreless innings against the Mariners on a limited pitch count. He doesn’t walk anyone (none in his last four starts spanning 26 innings with two of those coming in the postseason), doesn’t allow hits (three in 11 2/3 innings this season) and averages more than a strikeout per inning. Simply put: He’s the fucking man.
“The biggest thing is just pitching with a lead, making sure I’m taking care of what I need to do, being efficient,” Schlittler said. “Limiting the walks, hits and strikeouts is a good way to put the team in a position to win.”
2. Schlittler allowed a double on the first pitch of the game and then allowed one more hit — a single — on his other 78 pitches. He has been dominant in two starts and given the Yankees as much length as he could while building up his pitch count.
“It’s exciting to see how dominant his stuff is, just filling up the strike zone,” Aaron Boone said. “He got some early outs and that allowed him to get pretty deep into the game with a pitch count. He’s throwing the ball incredibly well. He set the tone for us.”
Schlitter had a one-run lead to work with after the Yankees put together another two-out rally in the first. With two outs, Cody Bellinger worked a six-pitch walk and stole second base before Ben Rice hit his second double down the first-base line in as many games to score Bellinger.
3. The score remained 1-0 with George Kirby pitching nearly as well as Schlittler and then Boone’s odd lineup decision of the day paid off. After giving Giancarlo Stanton — the hottest hitter in the universe — the day off with a day game after a night game leading into a scheduled day off, Boone decided to put Paul Goldschmidt into the lineup at first and make Rice the designated hitter. It was somewhat odd because Goldschmidt didn’t play against Tyler Mahle — a righty he destroys — in the Giants series, but here he was playing against a much better right-hander in Kirby.
4. Goldschmidt looked overmatched and struck out in his first two at-bats against Kirby, but in the fifth, he hunted a fastball, got a 97-mph one slightly elevated and crushed a 406-foot, three-run home run to make it a 4-0 game.
“I love being a Yankee,” Goldschmidt said. “I love to play, but if I’m not in there, I love to root these guys on.”
Who wouldn’t love to root for the Yankees for $4 million with up to another $2 million in incentives? It helps when you can hit 406-foot three-run home runs to break open games. It was Goldschmidt’s first home run against a right-handed pitcher since last June.
5. Leading 4-0 in the seventh, Boone pulled Schlittler at 79 pitches and Fernando Cruz got the last two outs of the inning.
Still leading 4-0 in the eighth, Boone turned to Camilo Doval. Doval was very bad as a Yankee after being traded to them last July, but he improved late in the season. He was good in his first three appearances of the season, but there’s always the threat of the bad version of Doval rearing its ugly head at the worst time and that’s what happened on Wednesday.
Doval loaded the bases with two outs in the eighth and Cal Raleigh coming to the plate, forcing Boone to go to David Bednar for a four-out save. With how bad Raleigh has been in the early season, I figured he would hit a game-tying grand slam to completely erase Schlitt’er great day, but instead, he just lined a single to right to score two. Bednar then battled Julio Rodriguez (Rodriguez fouled off four straight two-strike pitches) and thankfully won the battle to end the inning.
6. Rice came through again in the top of the ninth, hitting his first home run of the season to get one run back. That ru was enormous because it made a two-run game a three-run game and halted the momentum the Mariners had created. The run became crucial when the Mariners scored a run in the ninth and had the tying run at the plate, which would have been the potential winning run if not for Rice’s home run.
7. Bednar ended up throwing 40 pitches in the game, including 10 to get the final out against Cole Young. A scheduled day off for travel is coming at the perfect time. I can’t imagine Bednar is available until Saturday at the earliest considering Boone said it was “an uncomfortable place to be as a manager, especially at this point of the season.”
8. The Yankees finished the season-opening West Coast road trip 5-1 and outscored the Giants and Mariners 24-6. for a plus-18 run differential. The Blue Jays are 4-2 with a minus-1 run differential. Based on run differential, the Yankees should be 6-0 and the Blue Jays 3-3. I hate the Blue Jays, but it was beautiful to see them lose a home series to the Rockies.
9. I used to love late-night West Coast games … before I had kids. Now I dread them. It’s always good to get them out of the way, especially when it includes a 5-1 record. The Yankees won’t go back to the West Coast until the end of May (and then again at the end of August). They don’t have to play the Mariners again until the middle of August.
10. On Friday, the Yankees return home for the first time since Game 4 of the ALDS to play the 5-1 Marlins. The Marlins’ hot start isn’t an anomaly. They finished the season 13-4 last September, including taking two of three from the Mets to keep them out of the postseason in the final weekend. And let’s not forget the Marlins’ three-game sweep of the Yankees from August 1-3 last summer immediately following the trade deadline. The Marlins have great starting pitching and good young hitting and are a pain overall. This weekend will be a very tough home-opening series.
Last modified: Apr 2, 2026
