Schlittler, Rice power Yankees past Red Sox 9-0 in Wild Card opener

The New York Yankees opened their best-of-three Wild Card Series with a 9-0 win over the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday, September 29. Cam Schlittler kept Boston scoreless into the seventh inning, and Ben Rice delivered the largest share of New York's offense. MLB's final game feed confirms the shutout and the individual lines.

Schlittler worked 6 1/3 innings, allowed two hits and one walk, and struck out 10 on 117 pitches. That outing gave the Yankees a long, clean start in a series where one poor inning can change the entire week.

The zeros were not the whole story. Schlittler recorded 10 strikeouts while limiting traffic. Boston did not have many chances to turn a single baserunner into sustained pressure before he left the game.

Schlittler set the terms

Rice went 4-for-5 with six RBIs and two home runs. He doubled in the first inning, homered in the fifth, drove in a run with a seventh-inning single and hit a grand slam in the eighth. His second homer transformed a controlled game into a nine-run margin.

The sequence matters more than a single highlight. The Yankees led only 2-0 after six innings. Rice's seventh-inning hit helped extend the lead to four, and the eighth-inning slam removed any realistic path back for Boston.

His six RBIs came in the postseason opener, not as an extension of his regular-season totals. It is a distinct October performance, and one that let New York capitalize on the start Schlittler had already provided.

Rice turned control into a rout

The final score reflects a complete night, but the shutout was not Schlittler's alone. He exited with two outs still to record in the seventh, and the Yankees' bullpen completed the last 2 2/3 innings without allowing a run.

New York now leads the best-of-three series 1-0. The Yankees need one more win to advance; Boston needs two. A decisive Game 1 gives New York the better position, but it does not settle what happens in Game 2.

For this opener, the clearest account is straightforward: Schlittler suppressed the Red Sox lineup, and Rice supplied four hits and six runs batted in. Neither contribution should be lost in the size of the final margin.