Cam Schlittler took a 108.5 mph comebacker off the back of his left calf in the first inning and kept pitching. Six innings. Two hits. Zero runs. Six strikeouts. ERA down to 1.35 -- the best mark among active major league starters. He limped between frames, fell to the mound side twice in the third, and was still throwing 98 when they finally took the ball. The New York Yankees still lost to the Milwaukee Brewers, 4-3, in ten innings.
Some nights just aren't about the starter.
The Game That Got Away
The Yankees led 2-0 going into the seventh and should've been fine. Then Jake Bauers -- who'd been quiet all series -- hit a 420-foot solo shot to right center off Brent Headrick. One run. Fine. 2-1 into the eighth.
Then things came apart. Camilo Doval let Brice Turang single, watched him steal second (quietly one of the more important plays of the night, not that anyone talked about it), and served up the single to William Contreras that tied it at 2-2. Blown save. Turang scored. Here we go.
David Bednar was genuinely clean in the ninth -- 1-2-3, no drama, and I mean that sincerely. The Yankees even went back out in the tenth and scored. Ryan McMahon, pinch-hitting, lined a two-out RBI single to score Max Schuemann. Yankees 3, Brewers 2. One out from getting out of Milwaukee with a split.
Then Tim Hill made a throwing error.
It loaded the bases. Fernando Cruz came in, Jackson Chourio hit an infield single to tie it at 3-3, and Contreras -- the same guy who singled home the tying run two innings earlier -- lifted a sacrifice fly to right with two outs. Luis Rengifo tagged from third and scored. Walk-off. First of the 2026 season for Milwaukee.
Cruz takes the loss at 3-1. Two relievers, two blown saves, one game. That's going to be a conversation Aaron Boone didn't want to have.
Goldschmidt's Night
Before all that, Paul Goldschmidt was the best player on the field.
He led off the game with a 419-foot bomb to left center off Kyle Harrison -- the team's first leadoff homer of the 2026 season and his third of the year. Clean turn on a fastball, gone before you had time to think about it.
The fourth inning was the subtler version. Goldschmidt fought through his at-bat, punched an infield single with Amed Rosario on second, and drove in the run to make it 2-0.
Three for five, two RBIs, the only reason this game was close for nine-plus innings. (It was also his 21st career home run at American Family Field in 69 games there, which is either a charming trivia bite or evidence that he's spent an uncomfortable amount of time in Milwaukee. Your call.)
What Schlittler Did
The lead story tonight deserved to be Schlittler's line, and it wasn't -- which says something.
Kyle Harrison walked four batters in four innings and still gave up only two runs. Schlittler gave up zero across six. His line: 6.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, 97 pitches, 68 strikes. All of that while dealing with a comebacker -- from Contreras, fittingly -- that caught him in the back of the left calf at 108.5 mph and sent him to one knee in the first inning.
He got up. He kept pitching. He fell to one knee on the mound twice more in the third and didn't say a word about it.
Aaron Judge drew three walks on the night, which is the kind of quiet plate discipline story that gets swallowed up when your bullpen is handing back leads in the eighth and tenth. But it happened.
The Pen Problem
Aaron Ashby went to 7-0 for the Brewers. Two innings, one run, unearned. He's good -- but seven wins without a loss by May 9 is the kind of number that either means a guy's electric or his defense is bailing him out. Tonight, he just had to hold a tie and then watch Contreras do the rest.
Luis Gil's going on the IL with shoulder inflammation and isn't expected to throw for three weeks. He's the 2024 AL Rookie of the Year. The rotation depth conversation that nobody wanted to have starts now.
The Yankees have dropped back-to-back games for the first time since April 8-12. Brewers lead the series 2-0.
Sunday's the finale in Milwaukee. Boone's going to need a better answer from the pen -- because Schlittler already gave them everything he had.
Jimmy writes the Bronx Pinstripes game recap after every Yankees game. Beat-reporter pacing, fan's heartbeat. He calls opposing players by last name and has no patience for dead-air innings.
