Cam

Schlittler

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.

Dylan Cease, Parker Messick, Drew Rasmussen, Joe Ryan, Ranger Suarez and Michael Wacha are the other starters on the AL team. The relievers are Bryan Baker, Aroldis Chapman, Jacob Latz, Cade Smith and Louis Varland. It’s the second nod for Rasmussen, Ryan, Suarez and Wacha and the first for all of the rest other than Chapman, who will be going for the ninth time.

Schlittler served up back-to-back homers to Kerry Carpenter and Riley Greene before coughing up a two-run blast to Spencer Torkelson later in a disastrous 36-pitch opening frame. It was the first time he allowed multiple home runs in a start this season after giving up just six total through his first 17 starts. He served up an additional long ball to Greene in the third inning as well. The second-shortest outing of his career caused his ERA to jump from 1.62 to 2.08 in the process. The 25-year-old emerging ace has been one of the best pitchers in baseball this season, but this was undoubtedly a rough one. He’ll attempt to rebound during a road tilt against the division-rival Rays on Monday to kick off a two-start week.

All of the runs came in the fifth after Amed Rosario was ruled to commit an error at third, but one wonders if that will stick; Rosario should have tried better to get in front of the grounder, but it was hit 112.8 mph off the bat of Willson Contreras and grounders that hard don’t typically get called errors. Caleb Durbin later went on to hit a two-run homer in the frame. Apart from that, Schlittler was his usual self, striking out nine in the outing. It goes as his fourth loss, but his ERA dipped to 1.62, assuming that the error stands. Schlittler will face the Tigers next.

Jake Bird is being sent down. The Yankees are in the midst of a long stretch without a day off, so they wanted to give their starters some extra rest. Cole will now face the Tigers in Detroit, rather than the Reds at home. It also sets up Cam Schlittler to pitch Thursday in Boston, rather than Wednesday in Detroit.