Cam Schlittler needed help this time — and the Yankees utterly failed him

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — There might not be a more confident pitcher than Cam Schlittler, who does not doubt himself and did not doubt himself before Game 2. 

Sure, he knew that he was about to face a lineup that excels at placing bat on ball. But he also knew he was tied for the third-most strikeouts in the majors this season. 

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“I feel like if I need to get one,” he said Saturday, “I’m going to be able to do that.” 

Schlittler’s prediction was off the mark because Tampa Bay’s bats were constantly on the mark. 

The Yankees ace of aces was not to blame for Monday’s 5-2 loss to the Rays in the division series at Tropicana Field, but he also was not able to play hero as he had in Game 1 of the wild-card series against the Red Sox. 

“All I can do is assess my outing and realize that it needs to be better than that,” said Schlittler, who blamed himself after a night he needed the help of his defense, which let him down repeatedly. 

After dominating Boston through 6 ¹/₃ scoreless, 10-strikeout innings, Schlittler only punched out two Rays while allowing four runs (two earned) on six hits and a walk in 4 ¹/₃ innings. 

It started immediately, with the aggressive Rays swinging early in counts and making consistent, often loud contact in the first inning. Errors by Ryan McMahon (on a chopper) and Jazz Chisholm Jr. (an ill-advised throw to first after recording an out at second) scored one run, but Schlittler did well to limit the damage. 

The game changed, though, in a four-run fifth inning during which the flame-throwing righty needed to throw pitches by Rays bats and could not. 

A single by Jonathan Aranda (played conservatively by Spencer Jones, who might have had a chance at a diving catch) and a double from Junior Caminero put runners on second and third without an out in a game that was then tied 1-1. 

Schlittler needed one of those strikeouts. Unlike the Rays, he whiffed. 

Liam Hicks managed to make contact — the softest imaginable, a tapper that traveled 5 feet in the air — but the slow roller to Chisholm was good enough to score the go-ahead run. 

Next it was Chandler Simpson who fell behind 1-2 but kept fighting, eventually grazing a 3-2 sinker for a swinging bunt that went 4 feet in the air toward George Lombard Jr. The rookie shortstop had a play at the plate and knew it, his eyes toward Austin Wells instead of the ball as he booted it on a backhand attempt to let in another run. 

“That’s what they do,” Schlittler said of the Rays. “I let up runs like that in April against them — just choppers in the infield — but that’s what they do. They put pressure on you, and they find a way to get those runs across.” 

Schlittler said he “just didn’t have my stuff today,” his velocity up a tick from the regular season but down from his Red Sox start. 

More notably, he did not have any help. Appropriately enough, Brent Headrick entered in the fifth and allowed two inherited runners to score.