Boston Red Sox
The Red Sox couldn’t solve Yankees rookie Cam Schlittler — who struck out 12 over eight scoreless innings.
The Red Sox’ 2025 season came to a disappointing end Thursday night, as Boston fell to the Yankees, 4-0, in a decisive Game 3 of the Wild Card series.
In the four years since MLB changed the format of Wild Card series into a best-of-three set-up, the team that won Game 1 had won each of the first 15 series — including two series victories for the Tigers and Cubs on Thursday.
The Red Sox are now the lone outlier after squandering a Game 1 victory with a lifeless showing at Yankee Stadium.
Here are five takeaways from Thursday’s season-ending loss:
Red Sox offer little resistance
As rewarding as it was for the Red Sox to finally punch their ticket to the postseason for the first time since 2021, there will be few silver linings worth harping on after a series where self-inflicted miscues and an imbalanced offensive output added up against Boston’s top rival.
After Alex Cora and the Red Sox put all of their chips on the table to try to end this series in Game 2, Boston had little to offer in a win-or-go-home bout.
Be it Boston’s season-long defensive miscues sprouting up once again behind a rookie pitcher or the Red Sox’ bats being put on the ropes all night against New York rookie Cam Schlittler (8 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 12 K), it was a night where the Red Sox’ weaknesses all manifested into a season-ending exit.
Early gives Boston a fighting chance
There was plenty of weight on rookie Connelly Early’s shoulders Thursday night.
The youngest Red Sox pitcher to start a postseason game since Babe Ruth started Game 2 of the 1916 World Series, the 23-year-old Early — who logged all of 19.1 innings of the big leagues in September — was tasked with keeping Boston’s season alive in The Bronx.
His final stat line wasn’t all that pretty: 3.2 innings pitched, 6 hits, 4 runs (3 earned) allowed.
But the lefty did more than enough to keep his team in this one before things got out of hand behind him.
In his first trek through a Yankees batting order that led the league in both runs scored and home runs this season, Early allowed just one hit with zero runs allowed and five strikeouts.
Even though he didn’t wield the same triple-digit velocity put on display by Schlittler, Early used his deep arsenal of pitches to keep New York batters off balance, keep the ball down in the zone, and limit the damage doled out by Boston’s top rival.
Unfortunately, it all unraveled in the fourth inning.
A disastrous fourth inning
Much like in Game 2 where a dropped ball from Jarren Duran directly led to a run, Boston’s leaky defense sparked another New York rally in the fourth inning.
After Early forced Cody Bellinger into a pop-up out to shallow center field, Ceddanne Rafaela took an odd route to the ball as both second baseman Romy Gonzalez and Wilyer Abreu converged on the play.
Be it miscommunication or a bad read by Rafaela, the Sox center fielder dove to try catch the offering — only for it to drop in for a double for Bellinger.
After a walk to Giancarlo Stanton and a strikeout to Ben Rice, Early was done in by three straight seeing-eye singles — some of which could have been corralled by Boston’s infielders.
Amed Rosario opened the scoring with an RBI single into left that snuck just past a diving Trevor Story. Anthony Volpe doubled New York’s lead on a dribbler into right that also eluded Gonzalez as he ranged to his left.
The back-breaker came in the next at-bat with Austin Wells up at the plate. In what could have been a potential double-play ball, Wells hit a grounder that bounced off the glove of Nathaniel Lowe (a 2023 Gold Glover) and into right field that allowed another two runs to score — making it a 4-0 game.
Even though Early’s ERA for the evening registered a 7.36 ERA — a 0.68 FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) painted the picture of a starter who received little support in the field.
“We didn’t play defense behind him,” manager Alex Cora told ESPN’s Buster Olney during the broadcast.
Boston’s bats didn’t fare much better.
Sox can’t solve Schlittler
Even if Boston’s defense tightened up Thursday and limited the damage doled out by New York, it wouldn’t have mattered all that much.
Because the Red Sox’ offense still struggled to generate much of anything against a masterclass outing from Schlittler.
Thursday marked the first game in postseason history between two starters making their 15th career appearance or fewer — with Schlittler rising to the occasion with a dominant showing that will enter Sox vs. Yankees lore.
Schlittler — a Walpole native who played college baseball at Northeastern — thoroughly caved in his hometown team’s lineup throughout the night.
After failing to reach 10 or more strikeouts in any start across any stage of New York’s minor-league system, Schlittler threw eight scoreless innings on Thursday — allowing just five hits with zero runs allowed, no walks, and 12 strikeouts.
No Red Sox player advanced past second base on the night.
Boston’s lineup has labored throughout this series, closing out this three-game series with six total runs. But the Red Sox’ bats were hapless against the 24-year-old righty — who struggled to catch up to a fastball that regularly hit triple digits.
Schlittler is the first pitcher in baseball history to record eight innings, walk none and strike out 12 in a postseason game.
Quite the postseason debut for the local kid.
Too many passengers
As the Red Sox pick up the pieces and look ahead to the 2026 season, there were several lineup regulars who had a postseason to forget.
Duran in particular labored both in the field and at the plate — batting .091 with four strikeouts.
Along with his misplay in left in Game 2 that led to a run, Duran’s slow relay in the second inning on Thursday led to a Giancarlo Stanton double, even after Stanton waltzed out of the batter’s box on a ball that he thought was leaving the ballpark.
Duran was not the only player who labored across the diamond.
Rafaela — along with his brutal pop-up bunt in Game 2 and his misplay in center on Thursday — went 0-for-10 at the plate with four strikeouts.
Wilyer Abreu went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts, while Carlos Narvaez also didn’t collect a hit across eight at-bats.
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