New York Yankees ace Cam Schlittler bounced back from his worst outing of the season in a big way Monday, and he had a message for the haters after shutting down the Tampa Bay Rays.
"Last week was tough. They want to say that there's f-----g regression because I have one bad outing, so it was personal to go out there and have a dominant start and put this team in the right position," Schlittler told reporters after New York's 5-1 win at Tropicana Field, according to Gary Phillips of the New York Daily News.
Schlittler's dominant season was interrupted June 30 when he allowed six runs, including four homers, to the Detroit Tigers in a 9-3 loss. It was by far his worst start of 2026 and the most runs he's allowed as a big-leaguer.
But the 25-year-old showed why he's arguably the AL Cy Young front-runner Monday night. Schlittler shut down one of the best offenses in baseball, striking out eight without issuing a walk while allowing just one run on four hits. The Rays' lone run came on a fifth-inning Richie Palacios single, by which point New York was already ahead 3-0.
"I'm not surprised he bounced back from arguably his toughest outing of his young career so far," manager Aaron Boone said, per YES Network. "He was great. He was dominant. He was efficient. Great way to get the road trip started."
The dominant outing came right when the scuffling Yankees needed their ace to step up. New York had lost 12 of 15 coming into Monday's series opener and desperately needed a positive showing against the first-place Rays, who entered the day four games ahead of their rivals.
That's where Schlittler - who now owns an AL-leading 2.01 ERA along with a 0.93 WHIP and 131 strikeouts across 19 outings - came in. He took great pride in being able to lift his team off the mat by turning in the kind of performance that could spark an entire dugout.
"You want to stop the bleeding, (and I) just wasn't able to do that (against Detroit)," Schlittler said. "So, (I) feel like I dedicated myself this week to just kind of being more locked in and, again, trying to go out there and put the team in a position to win against the first-place team in our division."
