New York advanced to the best-of-five ALDS against Toronto with a 4-0 win over the Boston Red Sox in Game 3 of the Wild Card Series on Thursday night.
Yankees starter Cam Schlittler outduelled fellow rookie Connelly Early, etching his name into franchise lore with 12 punchouts over eight scoreless innings in the win.
The Yankees scored all four runs in the fourth inning, taking advantage of some shoddy Red Sox defence. Amed Rosario and Anthony Volpe chipped in with RBI singles, and two more runs came across on an error by first baseman Nathaniel Lowe.
Toronto and New York ended the season tied atop the AL East standings with matching 94-68 records, but the Blue Jays won the season series 8-5, meaning they won the division and a bye past the wild-card round via the tiebreaker.
“I’m happy. I’m glad we’re going out there,” Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm told Sportsnet’s Arden Zwelling after Thursday’s win. “We get to redeem ourselves against a team that’s been beating up on us all year.”
Game 1 is set to go at 4:08 p.m. ET / 1:08 p.m. PT on Saturday from Rogers Centre, and Game 2 will begin at the same time. All games can be seen on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.
The times for Games 3 through 5 are to be announced.
After using Max Fried, Carlos Rodón and Schilittler to start in the series, the Yankees will likely turn to reigning Rookie of the Year Luis Gil or Will Warren to start Game 1 against the Blue Jays.
Warren was on the Yankees’ wild-card roster, and Gil was not.
If New York were to keep its rotation on turn, that would set up Fried for Game 2, Rodón for Game 3 and Schlittler for Game 4. Thanks to off days on Monday and Thursday, Fried could return for a Game 5 if necessary.
Toronto, meanwhile, has not announced who it will be starting for which game in the series or which pitchers will be included on its 26-man ALDS roster. Kevin Gausman and Shane Bieber appear to be the main candidates to take the ball in the series opener.
After trailing the Yankees in the division through the first three months of the season, the Blue Jays took the AL East lead on July 3, completing a four-game sweep of the Bronx Bombers.
New York managed to catch Toronto in the standings on Sept. 24, but both teams won their final four games to maintain the tie.
To stay sharp during their bye, the Blue Jays played two intrasquad games this week at the Rogers Centre in front of fans, with piped-in sound to emulate a post-season atmosphere.
