BOSTON — In a game that was all about Cam Schlittler coming into Thursday night, the hometown kid nearly got overshadowed by Boston’s own hard-throwing young gun.
Until, that is, Payton Tolle left the game, at which point the Yankees pounced.
Cody Bellinger delivered the clutch hit — a pinch-hit, go-ahead, two-run single in the seventh inning — to make sure Schlittler’s strong night did not go to waste as the Yankees finished off a sweep of the Red Sox with their sixth straight win, 4-2, at a sold-out Fenway Park.
Schlittler did not quite have the same swing-and-miss stuff Thursday that he did against the Red Sox in his AL wild-card series clincher last October — the showdown that sparked the social media harassment toward him and his family, which continued through this rematch — but provided another memorable night nonetheless. The Walpole, Mass., native tossed eight sharp innings while allowing just two runs, only one of which was earned, and four hits while striking out five.
The 25-year-old right-hander, who did not seem to garner as much outward animosity from the crowd of 36,565 as he expected, still rose to the occasion against the team for which he grew up rooting. In doing so, Schlittler became the latest Yankees starter to mow down an opponent, which has fueled their six-game winning streak.
David Bednar finished off the win with a 1-2-3 ninth, completing a series in which the Red Sox (9-16) mustered just three runs and 13 hits.
After Tolle exited with a 2-1 lead following six innings of one-run ball in which he struck out 11, the Yankees (16-9) quickly took advantage, using a three-run seventh inning against the Red Sox bullpen to flip the game.
Trent Grisham, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and José Caballero strung consecutive one-out singles together to load the bases. With two outs and righty reliever Greg Weissert entering the game, Bellinger pinch hit for Amed Rosario and lined a two-run single the other way for the 3-2 lead.
Aaron Judge came up next and tacked on an insurance run with a single of his own.
Tolle began his night in dominant fashion, striking out the first five Yankees and retiring the first nine batters he faced.
The Red Sox, meanwhile, scratched across their first run against a Yankees starter in this series in the bottom of the second. Schlittler issued a one-out walk to Wilyer Abreu, though he was quickly erased when Austin Wells threw him out trying to steal second. But Rosario then committed a throwing error on what should have been an inning-ending groundout, extending the frame for Marcelo Mayer, who delivered a double off the Green Monster for the 1-0 lead.
The Yankees got their first base runner when Rosario led off the fourth inning with a single, which was followed by a walk from Judge and a single from Ben Rice to load the bases. But Tolle extinguished the makings of a fire by striking out Giancarlo Stanton — one of the three he had on the Yankees slugger in three at-bats — getting Randal Grichuk to fly out to shallow right field and then striking out Grisham to leave the bases loaded.
In the fifth, the Yankees finally got to Tolle when Chisholm led off with his first home run of the season. He went to the perfect spot, sneaking a 333-foot shot right down the right-field line and tucking it just inside the Pesky Pole to tie the game 1-1.
But the Red Sox matched it in the bottom of the inning, as ex-Yankee Carlos Narváez planted Schlittler’s 97 mph fastball into the seats above the Monster for the 2-1 lead. It marked the first home run Schlittler has allowed this season after going 32 ¹/₃ innings without one.