Yankees beat Red Sox 9-0 to take Wild Card opener

The New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 9-0 in Game 1 of their best-of-three American League Wild Card Series on Tuesday, September 29, taking a 1-0 lead behind Cam Schlittler’s scoreless pitching and Ben Rice’s two home runs and six runs batted in. Schlittler struck out 10, allowed two hits and one walk, and worked 6⅓ innings without allowing a run. He threw 117 pitches, a career high. The right-hander retired 13 consecutive batters before issuing a walk in the fifth inning, then left the game after giving up a single in the seventh. Paul Blackburn recorded a double play to end the inning, and New York’s bullpen completed a three-hit shutout. Rice drove in six runs, matching the Yankees’ postseason single-game franchise record, according to one account. He went 4-for-5, hitting a solo homer in the fifth inning, a run-scoring single in the seventh and a grand slam in the eighth. The grand slam capped a five-run inning and extended New York’s lead to 9-0. The Yankees had built a 1-0 lead in the second when catcher Austin Wells singled home a run. Wells also drove in a run in the eighth, and rookie George Lombard Jr. collected three hits in his postseason debut.