Two of the hottest pitchers in the American League take the mound Wednesday when the New York Yankees face the Los Angeles Angels in the rubber game of their three-game series in Anaheim, Calif.
Right-hander Cam Schlittler (12-6, 2.09 ERA), considered by many the frontrunner for the AL Cy Young Award, gets the start for New York (79-60) and will be opposed by left-hander Reid Detmers (4-8, 3.54), who has a 1.55 ERA in his last eight starts for Los Angeles (53-86).
Schlittler, making his first career start against the Angels, leads the American League in ERA and also Wins Above Replacement (WAR) for pitchers (5.9). He has been particularly effective on the road where he has compiled a 1.14 ERA in 15 starts.
The 25-year-old Schlittler comes in off a 1-0 victory over Boston on Friday when he allowed just two hits over 5 2/3 innings with eight strikeouts, averaging 99 mph with his four-seam fastball. He also passed the 200-strikeout plateau (201) to become the fourth-youngest pitcher in Yankees history to accomplish that feat behind Al Downing (23, 1964), Luis Severino (23, 2017) and Bob Turley (24, 1955).
“It’s just a testament to how good he’s gotten and continued to improve since we signed him,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Rifling through the minor leagues, I just feel like over the past two years, he’s just steadily gotten better and better. He has a really good grip on his arsenal, and he’s obviously one of the great pitchers in the league.”
Schlittler is 2-0 with a 1.13 ERA in his last four starts as he makes his final push for a potential Cy Young.
“Obviously, there’s a lot of ball left to play,” Schlittler said. “The goal is to win a championship.”
New York is 4 1/2 games behind first-place Tampa Bay in the AL East but holds a four-game lead plus the tiebreaker over the Boston Red Sox for the top wild-card spot.
Detmers is 1-0 with a 0.59 ERA in six career appearances (two starts) against the Yankees with 20 strikeouts in 15 1/3 innings. He picked up the win in a 7-1 victory on April 14 at Yankee Stadium when he allowed one run on four hits over seven innings with no walks and nine strikeouts.
Detmers, who has 174 strikeouts in 155 innings, last pitched on Friday against Philadelphia and allowed one run on eight hits in six innings. He departed with a 3-1 lead but didn’t get the win when the Phillies rallied for a 5-3 victory on Edmundo Sosa’s pinch-hit grand slam with two outs in the top of the ninth.
“I thought ‘Det’ was awesome tonight,” Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said. “Six innings, one run against that team, that’s pretty good. Put us right there in line to win the game.”
Despite his dominance over his last eight starts, Detmers has earned just one win during that stretch because of a lack of offensive support and late bullpen meltdowns.
The Angels won the series opener, 10-1, on Monday behind the pitching of rookie right-hander Walbert Urena, who allowed one run on five hits over seven innings while matching his career-high with eight strikeouts.
The Yankees bounced back with 14 hits, including back-to-back home runs by Spencer Jones and Jazz Chisholm Jr. during a three-run first inning, to even the series with a 7-3 victory on Tuesday.
–Field Level Media
