Yankees manager Aaron Boone admitted that his club could flush their previous night’s struggle against Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski. One reason was that New York was countering Milwaukee with its own flamethrower in Cam Schlittler.
Boone knew Schlittler was going to unleash plenty of heat against the Brewers. He didn’t know that Schlittler would be pitching on a bum leg.
Schlittler’s Injury and Performance
Schlittler spent the majority of his start throwing through throbbing pain after taking a 108.5 mph comebacker off the back of his left calf in the first inning. The discomfort he was feeling throughout the night was apparent to everyone at American Family Field.
Despite the injury, Schlittler grinded through six scoreless innings, striking out six and allowing two hits. He lowered his ERA to 1.35 and never lost his trademark velocity despite whatever agony he was experiencing. He was consistently limping to and from the Yankees’ dugout but still put together his latest gem in a season full of them.
“He’s a stud,” Boone said. “He’s just a great competitor, and obviously a great pitcher. … He settled in and obviously pitched awesome.”
The Play That Caused the Injury
The right-hander breezed through the first two hitters of the night before William Contreras scorched a liner right back to the mound. As Schlittler turned away from it, the ball struck him directly in the back of his calf. He essentially absorbed the entire impact as the ball fell directly below him to the point where he initially couldn’t locate it.
Boone and the training staff immediately came out to the mound, and Schlittler’s first few warmup pitches were all well above the strike zone.
“I kept trying to be pretty firm as far as, ‘Tell us the truth,’” Boone said. “He was just more mad at himself for not throwing a strike in the warmup pitches. That’s why he kept throwing it.”
Schlittler Pitches On
Schlittler stayed in the game, erasing any concerns his wayward warmup might’ve prompted by striking out Jake Bauers to end the inning.
He moved gingerly throughout the night and could be seen lightly bouncing on the mound between pitches to stay loose. He had his leg wrapped before the second inning and spent much of his time in the dugout doing exercises to ensure the calf didn’t tighten up on him.
“He knew I would’ve called him soft if he would’ve came out of the game, so he tried to stay in,” second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. joked. “He did a good job staying in there. … He’s a tough kid, and I think he’s going to be a star in this game for a long time.”
The Yankees lost to the Brewers in 10 innings, 4-3.