Cam Schlittler picks up 12th win vs. Red Sox

It wasn’t the most dominant performance for Schlittler, but he did what he needed to keep the Jays off the board for 4 1/3 scoreless innings before an RBI single by Alejandro Kirk gave the Jays their first run of the night. Schlittler struggled at times with his command, walking three batters in this one while throwing 61.5 percent of his pitches for strikes. Schlittler has allowed one earned run in each of his last three starts and will look to pick up his 12th win in his next start on Thursday at home against the Astros.

Schlittler tossed two scoreless innings before giving up a run on a walk and two hits in the third. He then settled in to pitch into the sixth without allowing another run. Schlittler would depart with one out in the sixth inning having allowed just the one run while striking out seven. The 25-year-old right-hander will take a 2.19 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, and a 189/34 K/BB ratio across 152 innings into a start against the Blue Jays in New York on Friday.

Schlittler allowed three hits and didn’t walk anyone. Unfortunately, one of those hits was a go-ahead solo homer by Matt Olson on a 100-mph fastball in the seventh inning. The Yankees tied the game an inning later before losing in extras. Schlittler wasn’t to blame, though, as he pitched well enough to win. He issued five free passes in his first August start but has a 39:1 K/BB in his other second-half starts. He’ll continue his Cy Young push next time out, in Toronto against the Blue Jays.

It was Schlittler’s shortest start of the season. In fact, two of the right-hander’s four shortest outings of the season have been in his last four starts. He may be tiring a little bit since he’s on track to easily outpace his career high in innings, but it’s far more likely that he just had an off day. His velocity looked good, but he threw just 61 percent of his pitches for strikes, far below his season average. We’d expect him to bounce back this weekend against the Braves.

Schlittler was utterly dominant over the first six innings of this start. To that point, he had faced just one batter over the minimum and thrown only 77 pitches. It looked as if he’d easily cruise through seven or even eight innings if things broke right. Then, Munetaka Murakami fought hard for a seven-pitch walk to start the seventh and Schlittler plunked Miguel Vargas on the very next pitch. Andrew Benintendi hit a run-scoring double two batters later that chased Schlittler from the game and set the table for a huge comeback win by the White Sox. Nevertheless, he forced 18 swings-and-misses in yet another fantastic start. Rather than deploying his usual fastball-forward repertoire, Schlittler threw a season-high 20% curveballs. It was up to 88 mph – three ticks higher than its season average – and forced seven whiffs on eight swings. It’s just another potentially lethal wrinkle Schlittler can add to his game on the way to the American League Cy Young award. He’s scheduled for a two-start week coming up against the Cardinals and Braves.

It was another dominant outing for Schlittler, who gave Phillies hitters fits all night on the way to his second double-digit strikeout performance of the season. Schlittler’s 12 strikeouts were just one off from the 13 he tallied in June against the Reds. He made it through the first three innings without allowing a hit and never allowed more than one batter to reach base in any of his 7 1/3 innings of work. Now sitting on 10 wins for the season, Schlittler will look to pick up his 11th win of the season on Wednesday on the road against the White Sox.

Schlittler struck out eight and walked none today. He allowed six hits but just four hard-hit balls. Against another lineup, he probably would have delivered a quality start. The Dodgers, though, put three hits together during a two-run third and forced him to run up his pitch count, resulting in the early exit. Schlittler will likely make his next start Friday against the Phillies.

Cole will be followed by Ryan Weathers on Saturday and Cam Schlittler on Sunday. The 35-year-old hurler had a solid first half in his return from Tommy John surgery, posting a 4.04 ERA, 1.20 WHIP and a 47/11 K/BB ratio over 49 innings of work through his first nine starts.

Schlitter served up a solo homer to James Wood on his first pitch of the game. Two batters later, Curtis Mead took him deep for a second solo blast. Schlittler settled in nicely, giving up just two more hits and walking four as he pitched into the seventh. He struck out six. The 25-year-old right-hander will take a 2.05 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, and a 137/25 K/BB ratio across 118 2/3 innings into the All-Star break.

Schlittler put together a sublime rebound performance after getting torched for a season-high six runs, including four home runs, by the Tigers in his previous start. A run-scoring single from Richie Palacios in the fifth inning represented the lone tally against him in this one. The 25-year-old burgeoning fantasy ace reached eight punchouts for the seventh time in 19 starts and holds a sparkling 2.01 ERA, 0.93 WHIP and 131/21 K/BB ratio across 112 innings. He’ll wrap up a two-start week with a road tilt against the Nationals on Saturday to close out the first half.