ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Yankees’ top priority in September is trying to chase down the Rays for the division.
Besides that, they need to get Aaron Judge back healthy and allow him to get his timing down before the postseason arrives. They wouldn’t mind giving their heavily used high-leverage relievers a rest, either.
In addition to all of that, though, the final month of the regular season offers another sideshow of sorts: the AL Cy Young race.
And while Cam Schlittler certainly added to his case with a dominant outing Wednesday night, his lineup let him down, spoiling a gem and forcing the Yankees’ ace to settle for a no decision after making just one mistake across eight innings.
But the Yankees bats woke up in time to make sure the night was not a total bust.
Austin Wells delivered a clutch two-out, two-strike, two-run single with the bases loaded in the top of the 10th to put the Yankees ahead for good on the way to a 6-3 win over the Angels to take the series at Angel Stadium.
After David Bednar tossed a scoreless bottom of the ninth, the Yankees loaded the bases with one out in the top of the 10th and then exploded with two outs against reliever Luke Murphy.
Wells’ go-ahead single — causing the Yankees-heavy crowd to erupt — was the first of four straight hits as Cody Bellinger, Trent Grisham and Ben Rice followed with RBI singles of their own to push the lead to 6-1.
That proved important as Michael Fulmer gave up a two-run shot in the bottom of the frame before recovering to close out the win.
By the end of the night, the Yankees (80-60) had moved within 3 ¹/₂ games of the Rays for the division and five games clear of the Red Sox for the top AL wild card entering Thursday’s off-day.
Schlittler had retired 17 straight before leaving a cutter down the middle to Vaughn Grissom, who crushed it to dead center field for a solo shot that tied the game 1-1 in the seventh inning.
The problem for Schlittler, more than one bad pitch, was that Angels lefty Reid Detmers was stifling the Yankees lineup at the same time, allowing just one run across seven innings.
Schlittler went a step further, finishing eight innings while allowing just two hits — both to Grissom — walking none and striking out nine. It marked the 19th time in 29 starts he has allowed one run or fewer, lowering his ERA to 2.04 in the process.
Before Schlittler took the mound Wednesday, his biggest threat in the AL Cy Young race, Blue Jays ace Dylan Cease, had already thrown six shutout innings against the Guardians, lowering his ERA to 2.25.
Schlittler was coming off a strange outing in which he threw 5 ²/₃ shutout innings against the Red Sox and allowed just two hits, but tied a career high with five walks, which clearly irked him.
The free passes had become something of an issue even as he pitched well in August, uncharacteristically walking 16 batters in 27 innings across five starts last month. But Schlittler made the adjustment in a big way, not walking a single batter.
Detmers faced the minimum through three innings and needed just 30 pitches to do so, but Paul Goldschmidt led off the fourth with his second single of the night — both coming on the first pitch of the at-bat.
Bellinger followed with a single through the right side before Heliot Ramos smoked a 112.2 mph line drive to shortstop. But Zach Neto snared it and threw to second for the double play.
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Rice extended the rally, though, with a swinging bunt before Amed Rosario came up and laced a ground-rule double into the right field corner to score Bellinger for the 1-0 lead.
Over the course of his career, Rosario has been a lefty killer, but he came into the night having hit just .200 with a .610 OPS against them this season, part of the reason why his roster spot might be at risk when Judge returns as early as next week.
But Rosario has shown some more signs of life lately, with three straight two-hit efforts before Wednesday’s hard-hit RBI double.
