Yankees 9, Red Sox 0: Schlittler, Rice, and a Bronx Shutout

Two kids from Massachusetts. Nine runs. Zero for Boston.

September 29, 2026 - New York - Cam Schlittler grew up in Walpole. Ben Rice grew up in Cohasset. Both of them spent childhood around the Boston Red Sox. Both of them wore pinstripes on Tuesday and sent Boston home from Yankee Stadium with a 9-0 hole in Game 1 of the American League Wild Card Series.

Cloudy. 67 degrees. Wind 8 mph left to right. First pitch 8:15 p.m. Attendance 48,437. The game lasted 3 hours, 1 minute. The New York Yankees lead the series 1-0.

Schlittler struck out 10 over 6 1/3 scoreless innings. Two hits. One walk. 117 pitches, 77 strikes, a career high in pitches. His first pitch of the night was 100.6 mph. Rice went 4-for-5 with two homers, a double, and six RBI, including a grand slam in the eighth.

"The job's not done; we've got to get another win tomorrow," Schlittler said, per MLB.com. "But it's very well-known that if you want to be a legend, which is obviously the goal, you've got to do it in the postseason."

Wells in the second. Rice in the fifth. Then the eighth opened.

Payton Tolle threw 4 2/3 innings: five hits, one earned, one walk, four strikeouts, 83 pitches. He was fine. Fine is not enough against this version of Schlittler. Austin Wells singled George Lombard Jr. home in the second. Anthony Volpe had already reached. 1-0. That was the only run Tolle allowed.

Chad Tracy went to Erik Miller in the fifth with Rice on deck. Rice hit a 96.8 mph sinker to center for his second career postseason homer. 2-0. Spencer Jones had already said Schlittler looked ready after the first couple of pitches, per MLB.com. The park believed him.

The seventh made it a game Boston could not climb. Rice singled Jones home. Luis García Jr. grounded into a double play, and Wells scored anyway. 4-0. Paul Goldschmidt had reached. The inning still added two.

The eighth ended the argument. Wells lifted a sacrifice fly, Lombard scoring. 5-0. Rice then hit a grand slam to the center-field bullpen. Ryan McMahon, Jones, and Goldschmidt scored with him. 9-0. Brayan Bello was the pitcher of record for the slam. Wyatt Olds had already let the inning get crowded. Boston used six arms and still put up a zero.

10 strikeouts, then the M-V-P chant

When Aaron Boone came for the ball, the crowd chanted "M-V-P!" Schlittler pointed at Aaron Judge without needing a microphone. "We've already got an MVP in this locker room; he's won three of them," he said, per MLB.com. "I wouldn't say I'm an MVP, but it's good to kind of embrace that from the fans, knowing they trust me."

Wells said the curve looked good in the bullpen, so they leaned on it. "He went after them, got ahead," Wells said, per MLB.com. "Now back-to-back years, great outings against them in the playoffs. That's what he's going to do."

Last October Schlittler had already sent Boston home from a Wild Card. Tuesday was the sequel. He talked before the start about keeping receipts. The rage was quieter this time. "I think they learned their lesson last year," he said, per MLB.com. The environment still did the rest.

Rice and Schlittler were both signed by the same Yankees scout, Matt Hyde. Rice once came home from Fenway with a Yankees cap and later wrote "Yankees Rule!" on Pesky's Pole, the MLB recap said. He does not need a marker now. "That's pretty tough to beat," Rice said of the night. "Any time you can come through for the team in a playoff game, it feels pretty awesome."

Lombard went 3-for-4 with two runs in his postseason debut. Wells went 2-for-3 with two RBI. Jones went 1-for-3 with a walk and two runs. Goldschmidt walked twice and scored. Cody Bellinger singled. Boston had three hits: Adley Rutschman, Trevor Story (a double), and Wilyer Abreu. Story's double was the loudest ball Boston hit, and it did not score.

Paul Blackburn threw 1 2/3 scoreless after Schlittler. John Schreiber finished the ninth. The Yankees did not need a closer. They needed nine.

Blinders, Boone said. The board still shows 9-0.

"It's one win, so we've got the blinders on," Boone said, per MLB.com. "But it's a confident group, knowing that if we play our game, we can beat anyone." Home teams that take a 1-0 Wild Card lead have won every series in that spot, the MLB recap said. Boston has to win Wednesday just to force a Game 3.

Schlittler already said the job is not done. Rice already piled six RBI on a night the rotation did not need help. That is the version of this rivalry New York will take in October: two Massachusetts kids, a shutout, and a slam that made the eighth a formality.

AthX Engine after the baseball

AthX Engine (our projection and scoring system) put New York at 21 team fantasy points, first on a four-game Wild Card card. Schlittler had 29.33 pitching FP. Rice had 18 hitting FP. Those two numbers are the night.

Fantasy points measure the night under platform scoring rules. Share prices also move with traders through dynamic pricing. They are related. They are not the same number.

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*Sources: MLB.com schedule; MLB Gameday wrap; ESPN scoreboard; ESPN box score; AthX Engine scoring applied to verified box stats. Information only; not financial advice.*