NEW YORK — According to the Red Sox media guide, Fenway Sports Group has owned the team since 2002. John Henry, Tom Werner and Co. have had a good run, but Cam Schlittler now owns the Sox.
The 25-year-old right-hander from Walpole, Mass., did it again Tuesday night, dominating the Red Sox for 6⅓ innings in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series as the Yankees cruised to a 9-0 victory.
With Henry, who also owns the Globe, among the sold-out crowd of 48,437 at Yankee Stadium, Schlittler allowed two hits, walked one and struck out 10. He left the mound to a loud ovation after throwing a career-high 117 pitches and not allowing a runner beyond first base.
“If you want to become a legend, which is obviously the goal, you have to do it in the playoffs,” Schlittler said.
Including two playoff games, Schlittler faced the Sox six times during his two-year career. He is 4-1 with a microscopic 0.47 ERA and has struck out 49 in 38⅔ innings.
Tuesday was much of the same, but even worse for the Sox. Schlittler struck out 14 of the first 15 batters he faced. The exception was a bloop single by Adley Rutschman in the first inning.
He left the game after allowing a one-out single to Wilyer Abreu in the seventh inning. Ceddanne Rafaela came to the plate as the tying run, but bounced into a double play against Paul Blackburn.
The Sox passed on Schlittler seven times in the 2022 draft, having not been particularly impressed with his junior season at Northeastern. The Yankees used their seventh round pick, the one immediately after the Sox, to select him.
The Yankees saw something in Schlittler that other teams didn’t, and now he’s their ace.
Schlittler is 18-9 with a 1.95 ERA since and a 0.87 ERA in three postseason starts. He is considered a contender to win the Cy Young Award this season and will likely receive plenty of Most Valuable Player votes.
In a matchup of young hard throwers with very different dispositions, Payton Tolle allowed one run in 4⅔ innings and 83 pitches. It was a credible effort in his first playoff start.
But Tolle was a happy dolphin facing a killer shark. Schlittler never smiled as he mowed down the Sox, liberally using his curveball to keep hitters away from his high-powered fastball.
“Not only was he using it more, he was using it very effectively,” Sox manager Chad Tracy said. “You know he’s there, but he used it a little more often. He landed it if he wanted to for strikes. He was able to get it under (the bats) for swing and miss. We couldn’t do much with him.”
Schlittler said it was a product of the bullpen’s good feel for the curveball and his growing confidence in the field over the past few weeks.
The other Massachusetts product on the Yankees roster, first baseman Ben Rice of Cohasset, went 4-for-5 with a double, two home runs and six RBIs. His grand slam against Brayan Bello in the eighth inning ended the match.
“Pretty remarkable,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said when asked about two Massachusetts high school players crushing the Red Sox in a playoff game.
“For them to come out and have this kind of night together to start these playoffs, it’s pretty incredible and a little hard to understand, frankly. But I’m certainly glad we have these two.”
Schlittler smiled when asked about him and Rice playing so well again against the Sox.
“We love it,” he said.
The Red Sox looked more like a team that had lost 16 of their last 30 games, not one that had dominated baseball in June and turned a losing season into a special one. They now need two wins in the next two nights to prevent their rivals from ending the season again.
The only good news? Schlittler will not be on the mound Wednesday.
Peter Abraham can be contacted at peter.abraham@globe.com. Follow him on Bluesky at peteabeglobe.bsky.social.
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