SAN FRANCISCO — Weeks before Cam Schlittler started the second game of the season for the New York Yankees, manager Aaron Boone knew that he was going to be limited.
The Yankees were ready to have either Ryan Yarbrough or Paul Blackburn follow Schlittler in a piggyback role because the Yankees starter would be restricted to 70 pitches after starting his spring training late due to mid-back inflammation. Even so, Boone figured Schlittler’s 70 pitches could still be special. He was right.
Schlittler had eight strikeouts and held the San Francisco Giants to one hit and zero walks across 68 pitches and 5 1/3 innings Friday. Giants left fielder Heliot Ramos’ second-inning double was the only hit San Francisco mustered against the Yankees’ pitching staff, as New York won 3-0.
Coupled with a 7-0 win over the Giants in Wednesday’s season-opener, it’s the first time in franchise history that the Yankees have started a season with consecutive shutouts. The Giants are also the first team to be held scoreless and limited to five or fewer hits through their first two games of the season.
“They have a great lineup,” Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge said of the Giants. “You look up and down there, you’ve got All-Stars, you’ve got (Rafael) Devers in the middle of your lineup. It’s a pretty potent lineup. You see Max (Fried) go out there on Opening Night and do something special, and then (we) followed up with a one-hit performance. The boys have been putting in their work in the offseason.”
Fried and Schlittler are the first Yankees duo since Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte in 2003 to each have scoreless starts in the team’s first two games of the season.
Schlittler’s season debut continues his ascension to becoming one of MLB’s most dominant starters. Schlittler has a 1.86 ERA and a 30.9 percent strikeout rate in his last 12 starts. He’s doing this while mostly throwing only three different fastballs, a pitch mix that is usually not seen by starting pitchers. It’s just overpowering heat, and opposing hitters can’t do much about it. Of his 68 pitches on Friday, 60 of them were some version of a fastball.
The Yankees’ pitching staff entered this season littered with questions. Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón and Clarke Schmidt were unavailable to start the season. Fried, Schlittler, Rodón and Will Warren, who will start on Saturday, are coming off career-high workloads in 2025, which is usually the biggest precursor to injury the following season. The bullpen was also mostly unproven after losing Devin Williams and Luke Weaver in free agency.
A key to the Yankees’ plans in the bullpen this season is Camilo Doval establishing himself as one of the game’s best set-up men. In Friday’s game against his former team, Doval was electric, striking out the side on 12 pitches. Of San Francisco’s eight swings against Doval, five were whiffs.
“That was a dominant 1-2-3 inning of what he can be and what it looks like when he’s rolling,” Boone said.
Through two games, the Yankees’ bullpen has limited the Giants to just one hit and two walks across 6 1/3 innings. In spring training, pitching coach Matt Blake had reservations about how good his bullpen could be, but he thought the potential was there.
“I think it has the attributes to be a good bullpen,” Blake said early in spring training. “There’s some unproven commodities out there that have to step up but have the ability to do it. I think it’s on us to put them in position to succeed early so they can gain confidence and then grow into the roles as they go.”
So far, that’s exactly what the Yankees have done through two games. With as good as the Yankees’ offense can be, a pitching staff playing to its capability could turn New York into one of the most complete clubs in baseball.