NEW YORK — The Yankees had two Massachusetts heroes on Tuesday night. By the ninth inning, they had a third man with a Boston grudge on the mound.
Cam Schlittler, from Walpole, threw 6 1/3 scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts. Ben Rice, from Cohasset, went 4-for-5 with two homers and six RBIs.
Together, they turned Game 1 of the AL Wild Card Series into a 9-0 rout of the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. It was the Yankees’ largest postseason shutout win since the 1960 World Series.
Schlittler got the win. Rookie Payton Tolle took the loss. Rice’s eighth-inning grand slam off Brayan Bello put the game away.
The Yankees broke through in the second on Austin Wells’ two-out RBI single. Rice’s solo homer in the fifth doubled the lead. The Yankees then scored twice in the seventh and five times in the eighth.
Yankees pitching allowed three hits all night. Schlittler now has a 0.47 ERA in six career starts against Boston, including the playoffs.
Most of the postgame attention went to the two hometown kids. So did the headlines.
But the last three outs came from a pitcher Boston once counted on. He is the one Red Sox fans may find hardest to watch.
A former Red Sox reliever closes the door
The Yankees bullpen still had work to do. Schlittler left with one out in the seventh. Paul Blackburn escaped the inning on a Ceddanne Rafaela double-play grounder.
Blackburn also handled the eighth. Then Aaron Boone handed the ninth to John Schreiber.
The right-hander retired the Red Sox in order. The shutout was complete.
With a nine-run lead, it was mop-up work. For Schreiber, it closed a loop.
He pitched parts of three seasons in Boston. He appeared in 111 games for the Red Sox and posted a 2.90 ERA. In 2022, he emerged as one of their most reliable relievers, with a 2.22 ERA in 64 games.
In February 2024, Boston traded him to Kansas City for pitching prospect David Sandlin.
This August, the Royals were out of the race. They put Schreiber on waivers. The Yankees claimed him Aug. 31, the final day a newly acquired player could join a club and remain eligible for the postseason.
Four weeks later, he was one of just 10 pitchers on the Yankees’ Wild Card roster. On the first night of the postseason, he got the final out against his old team.
Boone and the clubhouse on a night of quiet innings
Schreiber’s inning was the finishing touch on a game Boston never controlled. The Yankees’ defense barely had to move behind Schlittler.
Center fielder Spencer Jones described how little work the outfield saw.
“I got one fly ball. Didn’t touch another one,” Jones said.
Outfielder Heliot Ramos had a similar view of the evening.
“It’s kinda boring sometimes. Like, is it time to go home yet?” Ramos said.
Boone pointed to the two players who carried the night. Both, like Schreiber, have history with New England.
“For them to go out and have that kind of night together to start this postseason, pretty amazing,” Boone said.
Schreiber has not let Boston score since the trade
The ninth inning fit a pattern. Schreiber has now faced his old team in three games this season, two with Kansas City and one with New York.
In May, pitching for the Royals on back-to-back days, he threw two scoreless innings against Boston while allowing two hits. On Tuesday, he added a perfect third.
That is three innings against the Red Sox in 2026 with no runs.
The trade that sent him away has also moved on. Boston later sent Sandlin to the Chicago White Sox in a deal that moved Jordan Hicks’ contract. Pitching prospect Gage Ziehl came back to Boston in that exchange and has pitched in Double-A.
So the pitcher the Red Sox traded closed out their playoff loss. The prospect they got for him is no longer in the organization.
John Schreiber’s path from Boston to the Bronx.
| Date | Move |
| June 2016 | Drafted by Detroit in the 15th round, $6,000 bonus |
| Feb. 18, 2021 | Claimed off waivers by Boston after Detroit designated him |
| 2021-23 | 111 games for the Red Sox, 2.90 ERA |
| Feb. 17, 2024 | Traded to Kansas City for pitching prospect David Sandlin |
| Aug. 31, 2026 | Claimed off waivers by the Yankees |
| Sept. 29, 2026 | Perfect ninth to close a 9-0 Game 1 win over Boston |
A bigger role in a short bullpen
The Yankees’ 10-man pitching staff leaves little room for passengers. Schreiber earned his place in September.
He made 11 appearances for the Yankees after the claim and posted a 1.64 ERA. His first outing set the tone. He closed out a 7-3 win over the Los Angeles Angels with a scoreless ninth on Sept. 1.
With Kansas City, he had a 3.65 ERA in 55 games and 49 1/3 innings. The 32-year-old from Wyandotte, Michigan, becomes a free agent after the season.
The rivalry swap runs both ways. Former Yankees right-hander Sonny Gray starts Game 2 for Boston at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday against Max Fried. The Yankees lead the best-of-three series 1-0. A win sends them to the ALDS against Tampa Bay.
If it is close late, Boone now has one more trusted arm. It belongs to a pitcher the Red Sox let go.
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