In the first game of Sunday’s day-night doubleheader at Yankee Stadium, Yankees ace Cam Schlittler and Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto matched wits on the mound. Schlittler ended his outing dejected and frustrated by a Los Angeles lineup which took no give-up at-bats all afternoon. Yamamoto ended his outing on the mound, tossing a complete game for the Dodgers in an 8-2 slog in the Bronx. Despite New York’s offensive futility, the game remained close until a five-run top of the eighth inning for the back-to-back
champs put it on ice. Much like in the 2024 World Series which wrapped up in a tidy five games, Los Angeles simply outclassed the Yankees this afternoon.
This contest kicked off with one of the more rousing opening frames you could draw up. Schlittler faced down the top of the Dodger order and blew them away with his signature heat. Shohei Ohtani, Andy Pages, and Freddie Freeman all went down by way of the K. Cam picked up six swings and misses in that first inning alone.
This Dodger lineup will make you work, though. That’s what they did to Schlittler increasingly as the game went on. Their effort began in earnest in the second, as they fouled off tons of pitches to jack up his pitch count over 40 after two innings. A sun-aided double from Max Muncy exacerbated matters, but Anthony Volpe offset the misplay by making a beautiful leaping catch up the middle to take a single from Kyle Tucker.
Yamamoto countered Schlittler with an eight-pitch bottom of the inning to help set the tone for the afternoon. He then needed just nine pitches to retire the Yankees in order. His efficiency is what makes him particularly dangerous. It doesn’t just deflate your lineup; it forces Schlittler to get right back on the mound with far shorter breaks.
The Dodgers saw 50 pitches in their first time through the order—which must have felt like 80 pitches by the time Ohtani came back up in the third. He was looking for revenge after the first-inning strikeout, and had Tommy Edman at first base to work with. Schlittler mislocated a cutter low and in, and Ohtani unleashed, driving the ball at 111 mph through the right-center gap. Edman raced home from first to score the opening run of the game.
Another long battle with Andy Pages set up an opportunity for the Yankees’ World Series nightmare, Freddie Freeman. Freeman was on a power kick during that Fall Classic; here, he did the other thing he does best. On two strikes, he shortened up and shuttlecocked an obnoxiously perfect little looper into left center field, scoring Ohtani for a 2-0 Dodger lead.
The bottom of the Bombers’ order provided as much resistance to Yamamoto as a wet napkin in the third, compelling Cam to take the mound in short order once more. Schlittler bounced back to grab three more strikeouts in the fourth, but as he walked off the mound you knew he had one full inning left, maximum.
The game flow reminded me of the game flow I’ve seen in some of the ugly football games I’ve commentated—in which one team goes three-and-out every drive while the other team runs twenty plays and chews up a whole quarter worth of clock when they get the ball. It’s almost irrelevant how much they score; as long as they score at all, the game is lost.
Well, the hope for a baseball team lies in the fact that no matter what, they’ll get nine chances to make something happen. At any point, someone can come up with a big hit. That’s exactly what Trent Grisham did, leading off the bottom of the fourth by grabbing the Yankees’ first hit and first run on one swing. His big blast into the second deck in right field got New York and their anxious fans right back in the game.
Los Angeles, however, wasted little time getting that run back against the increasingly frustrated Schlittler. You don’t often see a pitcher react with more anguish after hitting a batter than the batter himself, but Cam hunched over in frustration after plunking Edman in the fifth. A grounder from Ohtani advanced Edman to second, and he scored on a broken-bat looping double which settled along the right field line.
That bleeder marked the end of a supremely enervating afternoon for Cam. He brought his best stuff to bear against the back-to-back champs; they simply outwaited him, picked their spots, and cashed in on their chances. Yamamoto’s brutal efficiency only exacerbated matters, forcing him to throw more and more pitches in quick succession against an offense which had begun timing him up. It’s a testament to Schlittler’s stuff that LA only managed to coax three runs out of him with so many factors working in their favor.
Yamamoto finished the sixth inning on pace for a Maddux, with just 68 pitches and the one blip to Grisham representing the only man to reach base. Ben Rice became the second Yankee to get aboard when he doubled to lead off the bottom of the seventh, but three straight Bombers came up as the would-be tying run and were foiled in quick succession. Schuemann put up a great fight with two outs, but his line drive on the payoff pitch shot straight to Pages in center field. Yamamoto survived his first true threat
The rest of the afternoon’s proceedings were not devoid of positives. Tim Hill finished up the fifth and began the sixth on the mound for the Yankees, then Angel Chivilli turned in a truly impressive performance, striking three of the four Dodgers he faced—including Pages and Freeman consecutively to finish the top of the seventh. Could Chivilli become an X-factor for this pitching staff in the second half? Time will tell, but the Dominican youngster was remarkably sharp today.
As soon as Chivilli departed, though, it was LA’s cue to put the finishing touches on this matinée against Jake Bird and Camilo Doval. Teoscar Hernandez began the bloodshed with a ground rule double which scored one and put two in scoring position. Dalton Rushing walked, loading the bases for Edman, who worked the count full and slapped a grounder through the right side of the infield for two more insurance runs. Ohtani followed with a base hit of his own, scoring Rushing, then a sac fly from Freeman added yet another tally for five in the inning and eight in the game for Los Angeles.
New York grabbed a pity run in the eighth inning thanks to another ball getting lost in sunshine—the Sun has no rooting interest—and a Volpe base hit. McMahon was doubled up to expunge thoughts of an extended rally, and Yamamoto completed eight innings.
In the top of the ninth inning, Dave Roberts, the same guy who thought challenging a call in the All-Star Game was a cool idea, challenged the final out of the top of the ninth in a game which was now meaningless. After five minutes of nothing, the call stood. Cool. Glad we have replay review for such important purposes. It also gave Yamamoto even more time to get ready for a breezy bottom of the ninth.
The Bombers themselves had the courtesy to keep it brief, going down in order to give Yamamoto the complete game he was looking for. One hundred and two pitches of brilliance for the Dodger ace, who left no meat on the bone in a comprehensive victory for the visitors.
The Yankees will get their chance to bounce back later this evening. Enjoy the World Cup Final between Spain and Argentina in the meantime to take your mind off another stiff performance from the pinstripers, then buckle up for another dose. If you want to. NBC has the broadcast for this one starting at 7:20 pm with LA deploying a bullpen game and the Yankees using Elmer Rodríguez as either the starter or “bulk guy” for an opener.
