Schlittler's playoff gem for Yankees against rival Red Sox prompts Boone to say `A star is born'

NEW YORK (AP) — Cam Schlittler's key to putting Boston Red Sox bats to sleep was his own slumber.

Making only his 15th major league start, Schlittler struck out 12 in eight dominant innings Thursday night as the New York Yankees blanked Boston 4-0 to win their AL Wild Card Series in a deciding third game.

Overpowering hitters with 100 mph heat in a winner-take-all elimination game, the 24-year-old rookie became the first pitcher in postseason history to throw at least eight shutout innings with 12 or more strikeouts and no walks.

Against the archrival Red Sox, no less, the team he grew up rooting for in Massachusetts.

"A star is born tonight,” manager Aaron Boone proclaimed after his Yankees advanced to a Division Series matchup with Toronto.

Schlittler prepared for the big moment by speaking Wednesday with Yankees great Andy Pettitte, a five-time World Series champion and winner of a record 19 postseason games.

“I got really good sleep last night. I wasn’t too worried about it,” Schlittler said. “I woke up and I was locked in, so I knew exactly what I needed to do and go out there, especially against my hometown team. So as I told Andy yesterday, I wasn’t going to let them beat me. So I was just overconfident in that fact, making sure I wasn’t getting too carried away with it.”

The 6-foot-6 Schlittler started the season at Double-A Somerset, was promoted to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on June 3 and debuted in the majors July 9 after Clarke Schmidt injured his elbow.

Schlittler grew up a Red Sox fan in Walpole, Massachusetts, but has said several times he wanted to play for the Yankees. He had faced Boston only once before, as a freshman at Northeastern in a 2020 spring training exhibition.

He outpitched Connelly Early, a 23-year-old left-hander who debuted on Sept. 9 and became Boston’s youngest postseason starting pitcher since 21-year-old Babe Ruth in 1916. Schlittler threw 11 pitches 100 mph or faster — including six in the first inning, one more than all Yankees pitchers had combined for previously since pitch tracking started in 2008.

“He is not afraid. He expects this,” Boone said.

Schlitter's strikeouts were two more than any other Yankees pitcher had in his postseason debut. He allowed just five singles and threw 75 of 107 pitches for strikes, starting 22 of 29 batters with strikes and topping out at 100.8 mph.

“Impressive, but he’s been our secret weapon ever since he got called up,” Yankees captain Aaron Judge said. “No moment is too big for him.”

His cap pulled low, just like Pettitte, Schlittler got 18 swings and misses — 11 on fastballs.

“Electric stuff,” said Boston's Alex Bregman, a two-time World Series champion.

New York took the lead with a four-run fourth set up when Cody Bellinger's soft fly dropped in front of center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela. Amed Rosario and Anthony Volpe each had an RBI single before Austin Wells hit a potential double-play grounder that glanced off first baseman Nathaniel Lowe's glove and into shallow right field as two runs scored on the error.

Schlittler kept his head bowed when he walked to the dugout after his final out in the eighth, showing only the slightest emotion with a small fist pump and tip of his cap to the capacity crowd of 48,833 at Yankee Stadium.

“As pressure-packed a game as I have ever been in, as a player, manager, going into the World Series, that’s clinching to go into a World Series, just because the context in my brain of what I think our team is,” Boone said.

Schlittler hadn't reached double digits in strikeouts since pitching for Northeastern against James Madison on April 17, 2022, three months before the Yankees made him a seventh-round draft pick and signed him for a $205,000 bonus.

“I think it’s a testament to him and his work ethic and his determination and his mindset. He comes from a great background. His family and coaches I think gave him a lot of positive mentorship that allowed him to be the best he could be," Yankees northeast amateur scout Matt Hyde said. "I kept watching him coming back to the dugout and he was keeping his head down. He was going about his business.”

Schlittler has a WHOOP device affixed to his left shoulder that sends measurements to an app on his phone, tracking heartbeat, strain, levels of sleep and recovery. The company that makes it is based in Kenmore Square, down the block from Fenway Park in Boston.

“I got 96% recovery two nights ago and then I got like 93 last night,” he said. “I was really comfortable, last night going to bed and being confident in myself.”

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New York Yankees pitcher Cam Schlittler delivers against the Boston Red Sox during the eighth inning of Game 3 of an American League wild-card baseball playoff series, Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

New York Yankees pitcher Cam Schlittler delivers against the Boston Red Sox during the seventh inning of Game 3 of an American League wild-card baseball playoff series, Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

New York Yankees pitcher Cam Schlittler delivers against the Boston Red Sox during the first inning of Game 3 of an American League wild-card baseball playoff series, Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

New York Yankees pitcher Cam Schlittler reacts as he walks off the field at the end of the top of the eighth inning of Game 3 of an American League wild-card baseball playoff series against the Boston Red Sox, Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

New York Yankees pitcher Cam Schlittler delivers against the Boston Red Sox during the eighth inning of Game 3 of an American League wild-card baseball playoff series, Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

HAMIMA, Syria (AP) — A trickle of civilians left a contested area east of Aleppo on Thursday after a warning by the Syrian military to evacuate ahead of an anticipated government military offensive against Kurdish-led forces.

Government officials and some residents who managed to get out said the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces prevented people from leaving via the corridor designated by the military along the main road leading west from the town of Maskana through Deir Hafer to the town of Hamima.

The SDF denied the reports that they were blocking the evacuation.

In Hamima, ambulances and government officials were gathered beginning early in the morning waiting to receive the evacuees and take them to shelters, but few arrived.

Farhat Khorto, a member of the executive office of Aleppo Governorate who was waiting there, claimed that there were "nearly two hundred civilian cars and hundreds of people who wanted to leave” the Deir Hafer area but that they were prevented by the SDF. He said the SDF was warning residents they could face “sniping operations or booby-trapped explosives” along that route.

Some families said they got out of the evacuation zone by taking back roads or going part of the distance on foot.

“We tried to leave this morning, but the SDF prevented us. So we left on foot … we walked about seven to eight kilometers until we hit the main road, and there the civil defense took us and things were good then,” said Saleh al-Othman, who said he fled Deir Hafer with more than 50 relatives.

Yasser al-Hasno, also from Deir Hafer, said he and his family left via back roads because the main routes were closed and finally crossed a small river on foot to get out of the evacuation area.

Another Deir Hafer resident who crossed the river on foot, Ahmad al-Ali, said, “We only made it here by bribing people. They still have not allowed a single person to go through the main crossing."

Farhad Shami, a spokesman for the SDF, said the allegations that the group had prevented civilians from leaving were “baseless.” He suggested that government shelling was deterring residents from moving.

The SDF later issued a statement also denying that it had blocked civilians from fleeing. It said that “any displacement of civilians under threat of force by Damascus constitutes a war crime" and called on the international community to condemn it.

“Today, the people of Deir Hafer have demonstrated their unwavering commitment to their land and homes, and no party can deprive them of their right to remain there under military pressure,” it said.

The Syrian army’s announcement late Wednesday — which said civilians would be able to evacuate through the “humanitarian corridor” from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday — appeared to signal plans for an offensive against the SDF in the area east of Aleppo. Already there have been limited exchanges of fire between the two sides.

Thursday evening, the military said it would extend the humanitarian corridor for another day.

The Syrian military called on the SDF and other armed groups to withdraw to the other side of the Euphrates River, to the east of the contested zone. The SDF controls large swaths of northeastern Syria east of the river.

The tensions in the Deir Hafer area come after several days of intense clashes last week in Aleppo city that ended with the evacuation of Kurdish fighters and government forces taking control of three contested neighborhoods.

The fighting broke out as negotiations have stalled between Damascus and the SDF over an agreement reached last March to integrate their forces and for the central government to take control of institutions including border crossings and oil fields in the northeast.

Some of the factions that make up the new Syrian army, which was formed after the fall of former President Bashar Assad in a rebel offensive in December 2024, were previously Turkey-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.

The SDF for years has been the main U.S. partner in Syria in fighting against the Islamic State group, but Turkey considers the SDF a terrorist organization because of its association with Kurdish separatist insurgents in Turkey.

Despite the long-running U.S. support for the SDF, the Trump administration has also developed close ties with the government of interim Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa and has so far avoided publicly taking sides in the clashes in Aleppo.

Ilham Ahmed, head of foreign relations for the SDF-affiliated Kurdish-led administration in northeast Syria, at a press conference Thursday said SDF officials were in contact with the United States and Turkey and had presented several initiatives for de-escalation. She said that claims by Damascus that the SDF had failed to implement the March agreement were false.

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Associated Press journalist Hogir Al Abdo in Qamishli, Syria, contributed.

Members of the Syrian military police stand at a humanitarian crossing declared by the Syrian army in the village of Hamima, in the eastern Aleppo countryside, near the front line with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in Deir Hafer, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Members of the Syrian Civil Defense, stand next to their vehicles at a humanitarian crossing declared by the Syrian army in the village of Hamima, in the eastern Aleppo countryside, near the front line with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in Deir Hafer, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

A displaced Syrian family rides in the back of a truck near a humanitarian crossing declared by the Syrian army next to a river in the village of Rasm Al-Abboud, in the eastern Aleppo countryside, near the front line with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in Deir Hafer, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)

Displaced Syrian children and women ride in the back of a truck near a humanitarian crossing declared by the Syrian army in the village of Hamima, in the eastern Aleppo countryside, near the front line with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in Deir Hafer, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)

Displaced Syrians at a river crossing near the village of Jarirat al Imam, in the eastern Aleppo countryside, near the front line with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in Deir Hafer, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)