If Friday night’s series-opener against the Blue Jays represented a test, neither Cam Schlittler nor the Yankees passed.
The start of the highly-anticipated three-game set resulted in a 7-1 loss for the Yankees in the Bronx. That gave Toronto a four-game lead over the Bombers in the American League East, as well as an 8-3 record in head-to-head play this year.
What was supposed to be the biggest start of Schlittler’s young career — a trial run ahead of potential postseason rotation consideration — ended up being his worst and shortest, as the rookie totaled five hits, four earned runs, two walks and two strikeouts over 66 pitches. Forty of those were thrown in the first frame.
Meanwhile, the pesky Blue Jays fouled off 24 of those pitches.
“It’s frustrating. The biggest thing is you’re playing a division rival, and you can’t go 1.2 innings,” Schlittler said. “It’s just kind of disappointing. So for me it’s just I gotta execute better and put myself in a better position to help the team.”
Schlittler’s night actually got off to a promising start, as he struck out the first two hitters he faced. However, his evening rapidly unraveled from there, as Vladimir Guerrero Jr. singled before scoring on a Bo Bichette double.
Daulton Varsho followed with a single and a steal before Alejandro Kirk worked a walk to load the bases. Nathan Lukes then singled two runs home, putting Schlittler in a quick 3-0 hole.
Toronto scoring one run on Lukes’ knock was a given, but the Jays managed two because the ball was hit to Aaron Judge, who made his long-awaited return to right field on Friday after a right flexor strain forced him to go through a weeks-long throwing program.
Tasked with making his first in-game throw since late July, the clearly compromised Judge flipped a short, soft throw to cutoff man Jazz Chisholm Jr. instead of firing home. That allowed Varsho, the second run on the play, to score even though he had yet to touch third base when Judge, typically in possession of a cannon, fielded the ball.
Asked if he was capable of making that throw, Judge replied, “I wouldn’t be in the outfield if I wasn’t able to make that throw.”
So why didn’t he?
“My first thought was to get it into Jazz, get it into whoever, just for them to make that throw,” Judge said. “Because my first thought was trying to make the play, and it just kind of died before it got to me. So my next thought is, ‘Hey, try to get it in as soon as you can and see what happens.’”
Aaron Boone faced a similar line of questioning. That didn’t yield much of an explanation.
“We’re handling it how we handle it, OK?” the manager said.
Tasked with throwing for the first time back in right field, Aaron Judge flipped a short toss to Jazz Chisholm Jr. when there was a shot to get Daulton Varsho at the plate. #Yankees pic.twitter.com/Zr2FP4p7GW
— Gary Phillips (@GaryHPhillips) September 5, 2025
It wasn’t a surprise that Judge didn’t throw with max effort, as he rarely appeared to do so while working through his throwing program in front of reporters in recent weeks. When asked if Judge was able to let it rip during his throwing program, Boone offered an evasive “we’re ready to go with him” before Friday’s game.
“He’s playing. He’s in there,” Boone said afterward. “He’s good enough to be in there, and hopefully it will continue to improve.”
“I wouldn’t be out here if I wasn’t,” Judge added when asked how close his arm feels to 100%.
With Judge costing the Yankees a run, the second inning didn’t go any better for Schlittler, as another bases-loaded jam led to a Bichette sac fly. That ended Schlittler’s night after just five outs, as Boone replaced the flame-throwing righty with junk-balling southpaw Ryan Yarbrough.
“Command-wise, it wasn’t off much,” Boone said of Schlittler. “It was just [them] outlasting him, foul balls, long at-bats, so it made for a long two innings.
“This doesn’t give me any pause going forward with him.”
Yarbrough surrendered a solo homer to Guerrero in the fifth. That inning also featured a lazy flyball dropping between Judge and Chisholm, though no runs scored off the miscue.
“That’s just on me,” Judge said. “I’ve gotta take control there.”
Guerrero’s homer was the only run Yarbrough permitted over 5.1 innings, as he saved the Yankees’ bullpen and kept them in Friday’s game. But with Mark Leiter Jr. and Camilo Doval conceding a run apiece and the team looking rather lifeless at the plate, Yarbrough’s performance went to waste.
Fresh off an overnight, early-morning flight from Houston – Schlittler traveled back to New York prior to that – the pinstripers mustered just one run off Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman. That came on a second-inning homer from Giancarlo Stanton, his 19th of the season.
“It doesn’t matter what it is,” Boone said when asked if the Yankees’ getaway day scheduling impacted the offense. “That’s the way it is, and we gotta make the best of it and still go out there and produce.”
With Gausman becoming just the fourth pitcher to complete eight innings against the Yankees this season, they must now prepare for another righty, Chris Bassitt, on Saturday afternoon. He hasn’t been great against the Yanks this season, allowing 10 earned runs over three starts and 18.2 innings.
Luis Gil will take the ball for the Yankees as they try to make up ground in the AL East. Only six starts into his season thanks to a spring training lat injury, the erratic fire-baller has a 3.68 ERA over 29.1 innings.
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