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The New York Yankees defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 6-4 on Aug. 20, and if felt like they couldn't do any wrong at one point. There were several players who stepped up to the plate and delivered, but it was rookie Cam Schlittler who stole the show, according to ESPN.
“Making his seventh major league start, Schlittler held the Rays scoreless and to one hit over a career-high 6⅔ innings,” ESPN wrote. “His bid for a perfect game ended when Chandler Simpson singled to lead off the seventh. Schlittler walked two after the hit but escaped with help from reliever Luke Weaver.
“Schlittler struck out eight, all swinging. It was the longest perfect-game bid by a Yankees rookie since Fritz Peterson went 6 1/3 innings against the White Sox on July 4, 1966.”
Even manager Aaron Boone was impressed with the rookie's play, and noted this may have been the best he's seen him all year.
“What a performance,” Boone said. “Dominant. Probably the best breaking ball he's had all year to go with the fastball. He was just filling up the strike zone.”
As for the Yankees as a team, they've been getting hot at the right moment, and they've scored 19 runs in the past two games, and they've all come from homers. That made it the most consecutive runs they've scored via homers since 2020, when they had 20 straight.
In their win against the Rays it also made it the first time in Yankees history that multiple players hit multiple home runs in consecutive games. Giancarlo Stanton, Cody Bellinger, and Jose Caballero each hit two in their win against the Rays a night earlier.
The Yankees are currently 69-57 and are in second place in the AL East, and there's a chance that they can creep up on the Toronto Blue Jays, who are just four games ahead of them.
