How good has Austin Wells been of late? Initially starting this game on the bench, Wells joined the action in the eighth with a pinch-hit single to prime his bat for the true decisive blow — the go-ahead two-out, two-run single in the tenth to salvage a win from a day when it looked like the offense would squander another brilliant Cam Schlittler start.
Schlittler’s velocity was down about a tick-and-a-half from his amped up last start against the Red Sox, but that didn’t sap any of his effectiveness. After walking a career-high five batters his last time out (albeit across 5.2 scoreless against Boston), there seemed to be a concerted effort to really attack the zone. This led to quick outs on a lot of early contact in the opening innings before he honed his command to the edges, leading to an uptick in strikeouts toward the end of his outing.
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He got three straight groundouts in the third and then navigated around a Vaughn Grissom single to leadoff the second by striking out Moisés Ballesteros on a pair of overpowering fastballs. The third and fourth brought another strikeout each, Schlittler remaining economical with his pitch count in both frames. The fifth saw him shift into high gear as he was able to gas a pair of four-seamers by Ballesteros and Christian Moore for his fifth and sixth strikeouts.
Schlittler needed to be shutdown given the way the offense struggled against Reid Detmers. Widely expected to get traded at the deadline, the Angels hung on to their starter and he rewarded them with a 1.55 ERA in eight starts since the break. The bats had no answer the first time through the order, Detmers needing just 30 pitches to make it through three perfect innings.
The script flipped upon facing him for the second time, Paul Goldschmidt and Cody Bellinger opening the fourth with a pair of singles. Heliot Ramos couldn’t follow suit, grounding into what is already his fifth double play in 76 plate appearances for the Yankees. However, Ben Rice kept the inning alive with a two-out infield single, allowing Amed Rosario to open the scoring with an RBI ground-rule double that one-hopped the fence in right. However, you couldn’t help but feel they left meat on the bone between the Ramos GIDP and Spencer Jones striking out to strand Rice at third.
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There was a scary moment in the sixth when a Rice foul line drive struck a camera man in the head near the Yankees’ dugout, and it was relieving to see him get up under his own power and get carted off after an over ten minute delay. To Detmers’ credit, he settled down after the fourth, retiring ten of the final 11 batters he faced to end his outing with seven innings of one-run ball.
Schlittler kept cruising through the sixth, punching out Oswald Peraza on a gross curveball and Travis D’Arnaus looking on a painted heater. He got two outs into the seventh to make it 17 retired in a row before making his lone mistake of the outing, and unfortunately for him it left the yard, Grissom crushing a center-cut cutter to dead center just over the outstretched glove of Jones at the wall.
His pitch count was only at 83, so it was a no-brainer to send Schlittler back out for the eighth. He retired the side in order to complete eight innings for the third time this season. It was also his fifth straight start giving up one or fewer runs, and 19th such start overall on the year to set a new franchise record. He had all his pitches working, it’s just a shame the one mistake he made got punished on a night when his offense couldn’t hold up their end of the bargain. He ended his outing having given up a run on two hits and no walks with nine strikeouts in eight innings.
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David Bednar was tasked with pitching a scoreless ninth to give his offense a chance in extra innings, and he did so with aplomb, striking out three to nullify a Mike Trout single. Off to extras this game went, the Yankees loading the bases with one out on a José Caballero single and Jazz Chisholm Jr. walk. A Luis García Jr. infield fly put them on the brink of wasting the opportunity, but it also brought one of their most clutch hitters of late to the plate in Wells.
Wells fouled off three straight elevated heaters before getting one he could handle, grounding a single just past the dive attempts of the first and second basemen to plate a pair and take the lead. That opened the floodgates against reliever Luke Murphy, who gave up three straight singles to Bellinger, Trent Grisham, and Rice, each one plating an additional run to make it 6-1 in favor of the Yankees by the time Rosario flew out to end the frame.
Recent bullpen signing Michael Fulmer was entrusted to record the final three outs, and he certainly made us sweat a little. He gave up a two-run blast to Ballesteros, but bounced back to retire the next two batters and nail down the victory, 6-3.
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That is what you are supposed to do against the worst team in baseball. Stay in the game long enough until you expose their fatal flaw — in this case, LA’s bullpen — and then capitalize on the opportunities you create for yourself. It’s the Yankees’ fourth series win out of their last five as they become the second team in the AL to reach 80 wins and draw within 3.5 games of the Rays after they lost to the Mets earlier in the day.
The Yankees get tomorrow off before making the short journey to San Diego for three games. Max Fried is scheduled to make his second start back from his latest IL stint facing Walker Buehler in the opener Friday night. First pitch is scheduled for 9:40 p.m. ET with the broadcast remaining on YES.
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