This isn’t exactly how either of the Yankees or Red Sox drew it up at the beginning of the year.
The two rivals will face off in a do-or-die Game 3 of the American League Wild Card Series on Thursday night. After an offseason where the franchises made splashes in to bolster their rotations, their seasons now lie in the hands of rookie starting pitchers.
Cam Schlittler will toe the slab for the Yankees against Red Sox southpaw Connelly Early. The two have a combined 18 MLB starts under their belts — 14 of them belong to Schlittler — and will both be making what is easily the biggest starts of their baseball careers.
“Two rookies, Game 3, Wild Card, Yankees-Red Sox. Imagine that? Should be a fun night,” said Alex Cora after the Red Sox Game 2 loss to the Yankees.
While the experience has been limited, the two neophytes have some big league success to lean on. In Early’s four starts for the Sox this season, the 23-year-old owns a 2.33 ERA and 13.5 K/9 rate. His most impressive performance came in his MLB debut against the Athletics on Sept. 9 where he tossed five shutout innings with 11 strikeouts.
Boston’s No. 6 prospect will be facing the Yanks for the first time in his career, which could either play in their favor or deliver him a rude welcome to the storied rivalry.
“[The series] is 1-1 now, so it comes down to this game,” Early said on Wednesday. “I’m super excited about it. … just ready to get out there.”
Schlittler has impressed in his first season with a triple-digit fastball that has missed a ton of bats. The tall right-hander recorded a 2.96 ERA in 73 innings while ranking in the 82nd percentile in strikeout percentage.
The 24-year-old will also be facing his opponent for the first time in his career on Thursday night, however, there is a much larger MLB scouting sample than his counterpart. Aaron Boone is confident in what he feels is a staple in his rotation for years to come.
“It does feel that [he will be a constant rotation piece],” said Boone before Wednesday’s win. “[I’ve] been super impressed with, first and foremost, his stuff. I mean, he’s got — you guys have seen big stuff. It is big fastball. The cutter and this curveball are really good pitches for him. Really good competitor. Like how he has handled every situation he has found himself in this year, starting with coming over and pitching a big Spring Training game for us late in spring, and I thought handled it and navigated it.
“You saw the right competitive edge to him. Super coachable, accountable. I feel like he has done a really good job developing over the years. He has put together back-to-back really impressive minor league seasons to earn his opportunity towards the end of the year. He gave us a shot in the arm when he became another stabilizing force in our rotation. He will handle it well regardless of result or whatever, like I don’t think it will be too big for him, and he will be ready to roll.”
Schlittler, a native of Walpole, Mass., will be looking to end his hometown team’s season and the faith from his manager means a lot to him heading into Game 3.
“For him to put faith in me and we get to Game 3, that means a lot,” Schlittler said on Wednesday. “So just making sure I am taking it as another game and going to do my job.”
Whichever of the two rookies comes out victorious will give their team the right to fly to Toronto to take on the AL East Champion Blue Jays in Game 1 of the American League Division Series.