TAMPA, Fla. -- Cam Schlittler carried a bid for history deep into his seventh Major League start, retiring the first 18 batters he faced. The electric performance couldn’t guarantee a win, though: it took a big swing from Giancarlo Stanton to seal that.
After David Bednar stumbled in the ninth inning, Stanton came off the bench to launch a two-run homer one frame later and Austin Wells hit his second homer of the game as the Yankees punched back for their fifth consecutive victory, defeating the Rays, 6-4, on Wednesday at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
"It’s been a great road trip,” Stanton said. “We’ve been hitting the ball hard, hitting the ball in the air, getting a lot of homers. Timely hitting. We’re clicking on a lot of cylinders. So it’s good to take this into the weekend.”
The Yankees (69-57) swept the Cardinals and Rays, collecting five straight wins heading into a key showdown against the Red Sox that begins Thursday in the Bronx.
Bednar was one strike away from sealing it when Hunter Feduccia belted a game-tying, two-run double, forcing extras.
Enter Stanton, who clobbered a Pete Fairbanks four-seamer deep into the night -- his fifth homer in six games.
"The guy is one of the most focused players I’ve ever seen,” captain Aaron Judge said. “He was locked in, dialed in. Doesn’t matter if he hasn’t had an at-bat all night. He was going to be ready for his moment. He came up big.”
There was a time when pinch-hitting was a weakness for Stanton. That has flipped, with the veteran embracing an approach that aims to keep him locked in from the first inning on, even when he is not in the lineup.
"The idea and the mindset is usually there. It’s just a matter of clicking and doing the rest,” Stanton said. “There’s always adjustments you can do smarter and better as the years go. It’s just applying. It’s about executing your plan more often.”
Sidelined until June 16 with pain in both elbows, Stanton has recaptured the form he showed during the 2024 postseason. In 46 games since returning, he’s slugged 15 homers with 40 RBIs while batting .311 (46-for-148).
"He’s so good at the mental game now, preparing and knowing how to do it,” manager Aaron Boone said. “He has tremendous self-awareness of who he is as a hitter now. He’s an animal.”
The Yankees’ 14 home runs in the series equaled a Major League record (since 1901) for the most in a two-game span, previously set by the 1999 Reds, a club Boone played for.
"They’re on a heater,” said the Rays’ Drew Rasmussen. “Sometimes you run into offenses like that. It’s crazy how many they’ve hit in these last two days.”
Devin Williams pitched around a run-scoring single in the 10th to log his first save since July 29, also against Tampa Bay.
Before a wild final frame that included José Caballero being ejected for arguing an attempted stolen base, Schlittler dominated.
With overpowering four-seam heaters that averaged 97.7 mph and a shoulders-to-shoetops curveball that buckled knees, the 24-year-old held Tampa Bay out of the hit column until Chandler Simpson’s clean single to center opened the seventh inning.
Though his teammates were giving him the silent treatment, Schlittler said he “wasn’t really thinking about it too much.”
"Even when he got the hit, I didn’t really care too much,” he said. “I’m trying to focus on the next guy. The biggest thing is that we won and put the team in a good position to win. “
Schlittler was sharp and efficient, throwing just 66 pitches through six frames. Tampa Bay made him grind in the seventh, prompting a bullpen call following a pair of walks that loaded the bases.
Luke Weaver struck out Feduccia to end the inning, preserving Schlittler’s line: 6 2/3 innings of scoreless, one-hit ball with eight strikeouts -- all career bests. He was the Yanks’ first rookie starter to be perfect through six innings since Fritz Peterson (7 1/3 IP) on July 4, 1966.
"The stuff was overwhelming; probably the best breaking ball he’s had all year, to go with the big fastball,” Boone said.
One night after tying a franchise record with nine home runs, Trent Grisham and Wells each homered twice, offering more encouraging signs as the Yanks look to keep their bats sizzling through the weekend.
“We’ve been playing our game these past couple of series,” Judge said. “We’ll stay locked in on that, control what we can control, and take care of business.”