Yankees secure September Subway Series as Schlittler stars, Rice and Wells go yard

Earlier this week , my colleague Josh asked whether Cam Schlittler could join Justin Verlander and Clayton Kershaw as the only pitchers this century to win MVP. With each successive appearance like this one, Josh's question begins to look more and more prescient. Schlittler was close to untouchable, allowing just one hit across six scoreless innings to hold serve with Dylan Cease in the AL Cy Young race. Ben Rice and Austin Wells provided all the offense with a pair of early solo home runs to right as the Yankees won the rubber game, 2-0, to secure this edition of the Subway Series (and a 3-3 split for 2026 as a whole).

Christian Scott entered this game as one of the best pitcher's in the NL when it came to his team's record in his starts, which made it important that the Yankees get on the board early. He offers a rare blend of swing and miss and damage limitation, so it was encouraging to see Rice really get into a 1-2 splitter, lining it just over the wall in right for a classic Yankee Stadium porch job.

As if you needed anything more to play for in the midst of a tense divisional race, Schlittler seemed to be pitching with an added edge this afternoon. He is neck-and-neck with Cease in the AL Cy Young race — also starting today against the Orioles — and likely wanted to answer the humiliation the Yankees faced in their drubbing the afternoon prior. He struck out four in the first two innings, three of those coming against a four-seamer that the whole Mets lineup looked nowhere close to catching up to.

Volpe got his first real test in these four games at second base and answered it with aplomb. He ranged well to his right on a sharp Brett Baty grounder, gloving it and making a jump throw to first , this shorter throwing distance seeming to suit Volpe's arm better than having to make a similar throw from in the hole at short. In the bottom of the frame, it was his chicken parm brother's turn to make his mark on this game.

Austin Wells has looked miles more competitive at the plate over the last few months after a truly abysmal start to his season. He's not giving so many pitches away and he's not missing as much when he gets what he is looking for. That being said, he entered today's contest amid an 0-for-20 skid — snapped in loud fashion in his first AB of the game. He ambushed an elevated first-pitch heater at 96 mph, launching it into the second deck in right for his eleventh home run of the year to double the Yankees' lead, 2-0.

With the way Schlittler was dealing, those two runs must have looked like a mountain to climb to the opposition. The Mets didn't manage their first hit off him until two outs into the fifth, Baty pulling a 3-1 cutter into the corner in right for a double before a Nick Morabito grounder stranded him at second.

Other than the pair of solo homers, the Yankees offer much resistance against Scott. José Caballero and Rice drew a pair of walks after the Wells homer but that came to nothing. Otherwise it was pretty smooth sailing for the Mets' second-year starter, who ended with seven strikeouts across his six innings of work including striking out the side in the fifth.

After the contact started to tick up against Schlittler in the fourth and fifth, he answered Scott's striking out of the side by ringing up Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto to open the sixth (aided by a generous check swing strike three call on Soto by the third base umpire). There was then a scary moment as Schlittler took a 112 mph liner from Bo Bichette off the back of his right thigh, the batted ball missing his pitching hand by inches. He was able to walk off the field under his own power, but went straight down the tunnel to end his outing at 94 pitches with Brent Headrick coming out to open the seventh.

If Schlittler can keep stacking starts like this, his Cy Young hopes and his team's playoff outlook will keep on improving. It's his sixth straight outing allowing one or fewer runs, extending his single-season Yankees franchise record to 21 such starts. He had to lean on four-seamer and sinker today, the curveball showing little feel while he wasn't quite able to finish his cutters, leaving a lot out of the zone to the arm-side. This elevated his pitch count to 94, which in addition to the come-backer were likely the reasons Schlittler couldn't go really deep in this start given his stuff showed no signs of degrading in his final inning. Schlittler ends the day having given up a hit and two walks with eight strikeouts in six scoreless innings to lower his season ERA below two for the first time since the first week of July.

As they've done almost without fail since the start of summer, Headrick, Paul Blackburn , and David Bednar slammed the door after Schlittler's day ended. They allowed just two hits and no walks in the final three scoreless innings, the three-headed monster nailing down another victory, 2-0, to secure the series over the crosstown rivals.

The Yankees next fly to Minnesota for three games against the Twins. Will Warren is slated to start the opener, facing off against a familiar face from his days with the Orioles in Dean Kremer . First pitch is scheduled for 7:40 pm ET on Monday with the broadcast remaining on YES.