Cam Schlittler threw 6.1 scoreless innings in the Yankees' 5–3 win over the Seattle Mariners in Seattle on Wednesday. The tall 6-foot-6 righty from Massachusetts, who the Yankees selected in the 8th round out of Northeastern in 2022, had seven strikeouts, no walks allowed and the Mariners only had two hits against him. The Yankees are now 5–1.

He has not allowed a run in 11.1 innings this season and has a 28.9 strikeout percentage. Schlittler has been one of the best pitchers in the league since he made his MLB debut on July 9, 2025 against the Mariners at Yankee Stadium. He has a 2.55 ERA in 16 MLB starts with 99 strikeouts in 84.2 innings (10.5 strikeouts per nine innings). He has allowed two runs or less in 12 of his 16 starts. He has an outstanding 1.087 WHIP. He has a 162 ERA+ (100 is league average).

His one weakness last season was allowing 3.8 walks per nine innings and this season he has not allowed a walk in 11.1 innings pitched. He is the first pitcher in Yankees history with zero runs, zero walks and 15 total strikeouts in any two game span. Schlittler is also the first pitcher in Yankees history to begin a season with back-to-back starts of at least five scoreless innings and at least seven strikeouts. Schlittler is the 2nd pitcher in the modern era (since 1900) with at least 15 strikeouts, zero runs allowed and three or fewer baserunners allowed in his first two games pitched to start a season. The other was Drew Rasmussen in 2023. Rasmussen had a 2.62 ERA in just eight starts during the 2023 season.

In his two playoff starts, he continued to dominate in the pressurized atmosphere of October baseball. Against the Red Sox in the series clinching game three in the wild card round, he threw eight scoreless innings and had 12 strikeouts. In game four of the ALDS, he allowed two earned runs in 6.1 innings with zero walks allowed.

Schlittler is the first pitcher in postseason history to throw at least eight scoreless innings with at least 12 strikeouts without permitting a walk. He also set a new franchise record for strikeouts by a Yankee in his postseason debut. The previous record was 10 strikeouts by Red Ruffing (1932 World Series Game 1 vs. Cubs) and Dave Righetti (1981 ALDS Game 2 at Brewers).

In his five starts at Triple-A in 2025 before being called up to the Yankees, he had a 3.80 ERA and a 1.225 WHIP with three homers allowed in 23.2 innings, which means he has had much more success at the MLB level than he had at the highest minor league level. Schlittler has been even better at the Major League level than the Yankees thought he would be when he was called up to make his MLB debut last season.

In August, he had an outstanding 1.60 ERA in six starts with just 22 hits allowed and 39 strikeouts in 33.2 innings. He is on track to having a similar stretch of games to begin this season. In this game, he threw his cutter, 4-seam fastball and sinker very well. He threw his 4-seam fastball 56 percent of the time last season.

He had two strikeouts in the first inning on his overpowering fastball. The two strikeouts were against the Mariners two best hitters, Cal Raleigh (a league leading 60 homers and 128 RBI last season) and Julio Rodriguez (32 homers, 31 doubles and 30 steals in 2025). Rodriguez is 2–22 so far this season and Raleigh is 3–21. Those two strikeouts and then a groundout by Josh Naylor to end the inning came after a leadoff double by Brendan Donovan. Schlittler pitched well with a runner in scoring position in the first inning.

Schlittler did not allow another runner to get into scoring position in his next 5.1 innings. He retired the side in order in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings. He was taken out of the game after getting Rodriguez to ground out to shortstop to begin the seventh. A big reason for his success at the Major League level has been his increased velocity. He has been throwing in the high 90s with the Yankees after throwing in the low 90s in the minors and at Northeastern.

"It's exciting to see how dominant his stuff is, just filling up the strike zone," manager Aaron Boone said. "He got some early outs and that allowed him to get pretty deep into the game with a pitch count. He's throwing the ball incredibly well. He set the tone for us."

"He's not afraid to come at you with his best stuff," Ben Rice said about Schlittler. "Clearly, he's very difficult to hit."

The 25-year-old has elite stuff. Schlittler averaged over 98 mph on both his four-seamer and sinker during spring training, and his cutter, which was thrown at 94.7 mph, was thrown faster than in 2025. He has been overpowering hitters in his two starts this season. His 99 mph sinker had 15 inches of run in his first start this season against the Giants. Against the Giants, he threw his cutter at 96 mph and his elevated 4-seam fastball at 98 mph. Schlittler throws two versions of his cutter and gets a lot of late swings against his fastball, which he relies on.

Proving how effective and hard to hit his 4-seam was is Schlittler got 11 whiffs on 18 swings (61.1 percent) with his 4-seam fastball in this game. That's the 2nd-highest 4-seam fastball swing-and-miss rate in a game by a Yankee (minimum 15 swings) in the pitch tracking era (began in 2008). The only higher rate was by Gerrit Cole on May 12, 2021 (61.5 percent).

Rice gave the Yankees a 1–0 lead in the first inning with his standup RBI double that went down the first line to the wall in right. The 27-year-old, who could be among the league leaders in homers and OBP this season, is 7–16 with a homer, three doubles and five RBI in his five games this season. He is 4–6 in his last two games. His two RBI were critical in this game with the Yankees winning by two.

In the sixth inning, Paul Goldschmidt slugged a 3-run homer 406 feet to left center to score Trent Grisham and Rice. Goldschmidt, who is the backup first baseman and a team leader / elder statesman at 38 years old, has gone 2–9 with two extra base hits so far this season in two games. Grisham and Rice had both walked earlier in the inning. Mariners starting pitcher George Kirby, who grew up a Yankees fan in Westchester County, allowed that three-run homer and allowed four earned runs with five hits and three walks overall in his six innings pitched.

The Yankees went 2–3 with runners in scoring position, which is an outstanding success rate in a limited sample size. They went 4–8 with runners in scoring position when they shutout the Mariners the previous day in a game that was highlighted by Max Fried's 7.0 scoreless innings. The only game the Yankees lost this season was game one of the series, a 2–1 Seattle win, and in that game the Yankees went 0–6 with runners in scoring position.

The fifth run the Yankees scored in this game was a deep 427-foot homer by Rice to left center. Rice had two extra base hits and that homer in the ninth inning was his first homer of his season after hitting 26 homers in 138 games in 2025, which was his second MLB season.

Rice is on a five-game hitting streak to start the season and he has a .412 average with a .524 OBP in those five games. He went 2–4 in his final game of last season. In his final six games of last season, he went 10–23 with one double, two walks, one triple, three homers and eight RBI. He had a .337 OBP in his 138 games last season but that will likely be higher this season as he gets more MLB experience.

In the minors he got on base at a high rate, which is another indication that his OBP could be higher this season than last season. In his 80 games combined at Double-A and Triple-A in 2024, he had a .400 OBP. In his 30 games at Triple-A in 2024, his .OBP of .428 was the highest on the team. In his 73 games combined across two Single-A levels and Double-A in 2023, he had an even better .434 OBP.

The bullpen did not pitch well for the first time this season but they did good enough to get the Yankees the win. The bullpen allowed three earned runs in 2.0 innings with five hits allowed after allowing just one run in 17 innings pitched in the first five games this season.

Camilo Doval, who did not allow a run in his first three games this season in a span of 2.1 innings, allowed two earned runs after allowing two hits and a walk in the eighth inning. He was taken out of the game with the bases loaded and two outs in the eight inning and then closer David Bednar allowed a two-run single to Raleigh in the first batter he faced. Both of the runs that scored were charged to Doval.

In the ninth inning, right fielder Dominic Canzone, who is in his fourth season with Seattle, had an RBI single to score Randy Arozarena. Bednar got second baseman Cole Young to fly out to right to end the game. Bednar has gotten a save in each of the three games he has appeared in this season. He held the Giants scoreless in his two games pitched in the first series of the season but he was not as sharp in this game. The Yankees were due for a game where the bullpen was not as effective since it had been lights out in the first five games of the season.

The Yankees have an off day today before beginning a three-game series at home against the Miami Marlins on Friday. They will have their first series of the season at Yankees Stadium when it is forecasted to be in the high 60s to low 70s over the weekend. There are years when it has been much colder in the beginning of the season in the Bronx for home games.

Run prevention has been the key to the Yankees 5–1 start to the season. The Yankees six runs allowed is the fewest runs allowed by any MLB team. The Braves have allowed the second fewest at 12 runs, which is double the amount of runs the Yankees have allowed. The six runs the Yankees have allowed is the third-fewest in MLB history by a team through its first six games of a season (the 1915 Phillies and 2002 Giants each allowed five).

Proving how dominant the pitching staff has been thus far is that this is the fifth season in franchise history that the Yankees allowed six or fewer runs in any six-game span on the road. They also did it in 1959, 1948, 1917 and 1906.

"It's a good week for us, but we know there's probably still six months to go," Goldschmidt said. "We've talked about doing the little things, playing the game and making those plays. It isn't always about hitting a homer. Hopefully those things will pay off."