Cam Schlittler dazzled with a career-high 13 strikeouts over six scoreless innings as the New York Yankees shut out the Cincinnati Reds 5-0 at Yankee Stadium, while Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Ben Rice powered the offense.
When Cam Schlittler took the mound Friday night at Yankee Stadium, the script was simple: dominate early, stay sharp, and don’t give Cincinnati anything to grab onto.
He did exactly that. The 25-year-old right-hander blanked the Reds in a 5-0 Yankees win, striking out a career-high 13 batters across six scoreless innings. Schlittler allowed four hits and issued no walks. His control was as clean as his stuff: he threw 96 pitches, including 66 strikes.
By the end of his outing, his season numbers had dipped even deeper into “can’t miss” territory. Schlittler lowered his ERA to an American League-leading 1.71 through his first 16 starts.
The strikeouts came in waves. After fanning Eugenio Suárez to end the fourth inning. he reached double digits and stayed there—finishing with 13 after striking out J.J. Bleday in the sixth. The night also included the kind of timing that makes hitters flinch: Schlittler hit leadoff batter Blake Dunn with the game’s first pitch. but he never let that moment turn into momentum for Cincinnati. Instead, he settled in and recorded multiple strikeouts in each of the first five innings.
What made it even more striking was the rarity of the line. Schlittler became the youngest pitcher in Yankees history at 25 years and 134 days old to record at least 13 strikeouts without a walk. He also became the first pitcher in franchise history to reach 13 strikeouts in a game since Max Fried accomplished the feat on Sept. 18, 2025, against the Baltimore Orioles.
The performance carried franchise context too. His 1.71 ERA is the lowest by a Yankees pitcher through 16 starts since Whitey Ford produced a 1.47 mark in 1964.
Offensively, New York backed Schlittler with two homers and plenty of timely work. Jazz Chisholm Jr., returning to the lineup, hit his 11th home run of the season—a solo shot in the second inning. Ben Rice followed with a 433-foot, three-run homer, his team-leading 21st of the year.
Rice’s season profile keeps rising: he ranks third in the American League in home runs and is second in Major League Baseball with a .616 slugging percentage and a 1.005 OPS.
The late innings stayed controlled. Anthony Volpe delivered an RBI single in the eighth inning, and the bullpen finished the job with scoreless work from Jake Bird, Brent Headrick, and David Bednar. The result was the Yankees’ eighth shutout of the season.
With the win, New York moved to 16 wins in the last 22 games and improved to 10-5 since Aaron Judge suffered a fractured right rib. For Schlittler personally, it was another step forward: he improved to 8-3 on the season after entering the game winless in his previous three starts.
New York Yankees Cam Schlittler Cincinnati Reds MLB 13 strikeouts 5-0 shutout Yankee Stadium Jazz Chisholm Jr. Ben Rice Aaron Judge
13 strikeouts for the Yankees, wow. Baseball is still real sport, not like all that other stuff.
How did they say he hit someone on the first pitch and it was “no momentum”?? If you bean the guy that’s basically momentum lol. Anyway Reds got shut out so I’m sure it was wild.
13 Ks and no walks, that’s crazy clean. But I swear these articles always gloss over the “four hits” part like it doesn’t matter. Also Yankees history thing… younger than 25 years? I’m confused by the numbers, like was he 25 or 134 days? Either way, good for him.
I saw “Schlittler” and thought it was gonna be some coach or something. Turns out it’s the pitcher. Hit the leadoff guy then strike out everybody… sounds like a conspiracy of timing honestly. Plus 1.71 ERA “lowest”… until the next game where they’ll blow it right? Yankees gonna Yankee.