Braves 2, Yankees 1, in a game Cam Schlittler pitched too well for the New York Yankees to lose. And yet here we are.
Schlittler went seven, struck out 11, walked nobody, and allowed exactly one run -- a 393-foot Matt Olson missile in the seventh that would've been a footnote in most of his other starts this year. Instead it stood up. Trent Grisham tied it in the eighth with a laser of his own, and then extra innings did to the Yankees what extra innings tend to do to a team that's already spent two nights' worth of late-game magic.
Olson Breaks the Silence, Grisham Answers
Through six, this was Schlittler and Grant Holmes trading zeroes, the kind of Sunday getaway game that makes you check your watch and hope it stays boring. Olson ended that in the top of the seventh, turning on a 2-0 pitch and sending it 393 feet to right-center at 110.7 mph off the bat. Braves 1, Yankees 0.
Grisham didn't wait around. First pitch of his eighth-inning at-bat off Didier Fuentes, 392 feet, 106.2 mph, tied at 1-1. It was the biggest single swing in win probability all afternoon (nothing else in the game moved the needle as much), and for about two innings it looked like it might be the one Yankees fans remembered.
The Start Schlittler Deserved a Win For
Seven innings, three hits, one run, zero walks, 11 strikeouts, 96 pitches -- "Schlitt" happened again, in the team's own shorthand for it. He came in with a 2.26 ERA and had spent most of the summer near the top of the AL Cy Young conversation, and Sunday did nothing to hurt that case (he just didn't get a decision to show for it). No-hit stuff through six, one mistake to Olson, and a bullpen that had to finish what he couldn't.
Holmes matched him for six: three hits, no runs, two walks, two strikeouts, 77 pitches. Whatever's in the water for NL Cy Young contenders wasn't wasted on this lineup either.
Extras Went Atlanta's Way
Top of the 10th opened with Ha-Seong Kim parked at second, the automatic runner rule doing what it always does (still feels like cheating no matter how many years it's been around). Michael Harris II grounded a single through the right side, Kim scored, Braves up 2-1. Harris got greedy trying to steal second right after -- Austin Wells threw him out, George Lombard Jr. applying the tag, and the Braves had to challenge the call just to make sure it stuck. It did.
The Yankees didn't get much of a look at Tyler Kinley in the bottom half. Spencer Jones popped out, Lombard grounded out, Ryan McMahon struck out swinging. Save number one for Kinley, decision to Raisel Iglesias (1-2), loss to Paul Blackburn (3-2), who started the 10th already on the hook for that automatic runner and never had a real chance to strand him.
A Few Other Things
Lombard lined into an unassisted double play off Olson's glove in the fifth, which is just a brutal way to kill a rally (Spencer Jones was moving, Olson stepped on the bag before he could get back). And Braves starter from Saturday, Chris Sale, got tossed in the first inning by third-base umpire Dan Merzel -- not even his day to pitch, and he still found a way into the box score.
The Yankees still leave town with the series in hand, 2-1, thanks to Friday's walk-off and Saturday's Cole outing doing the heavy lifting. Sunday was just a reminder that Schlittler's best isn't an automatic win by itself. Seattle's next, starting Tuesday, and if he gets the ball again this month, the Bombers will take that line every time.
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.
