Schlittler Fans 13, Yankees Blank Reds 5-0
Cam Schlittler struck out 13 batters over 6.0 innings without issuing a single walk, and the Yankees made it easy on him — New York handed Cincinnati a 5-0 shutout on June 19. The story of the night was a pitching performance that looked, frankly, dominant from start to finish.
Schlittler was the engine of this one. Six innings, four hits, zero earned runs, zero walks, 13 strikeouts — that's a line that doesn't need any editorial help. For a starting pitcher to miss that many bats while not putting a single runner on via free pass appears to be the kind of outing that shifts how a rotation is perceived. The Yankees bullpen kept it clean from there: Jake Bird worked a perfect seventh with two strikeouts, and David Bednar matched him with a perfect eighth, also fanning two. Cincinnati managed four hits across nine innings and never threatened to score.
On the offensive side, Ben Rice did the heavy lifting. He went 2-for-4 with a home run and drove in three runs, accounting for the majority of New York's production. Jazz Chisholm Jr. — who had been a health concern after taking a foul ball to the groin in a prior game — went 1-for-3 with a home run, an RBI, and scored twice, which looks like an encouraging sign given the circumstances. Anthony Volpe added a 2-for-3 night with an RBI and a run scored, and Jasson Dominguez went 2-for-4. New York spread the damage around, which appears to be exactly the kind of balanced attack that keeps opposing pitchers from settling in.
For Cincinnati, Rhett Lowder absorbed the loss after allowing four earned runs on six hits and three walks over 5.1 innings, striking out five. Blake Dunn was the lone bright spot offensively, going 2-for-3, but the Reds' lineup as a whole couldn't generate anything against a Yankees pitching staff that was locked in from the first pitch. Nathaniel Lowe went 1-for-4, and the rest of the order offered little resistance. The Reds were shut out entirely, which looks like a night to forget quickly — though whether Cincinnati can bounce back will depend on answers that this box score doesn't provide.