May 15, 2026

Cam Schlittler Shoves, Ben Rice Keeps Raking, And The Yankees Take The Subway Series Opener

Yankees

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The Yankees needed a clean win, and Cam Schlittler gave them exactly that.

The Yankees did not need another dramatic, messy, bullpen-burning, heart-attack kind of night. Not on this road trip. Not after the way things have looked lately. Not with the Subway Series noise already loud before the first pitch was even thrown.

They needed a grown-up win.

They needed a starter to walk into Citi Field, grab the baseball, and calm everything down.

Cam Schlittler did that.

The Yankees beat the Mets 5-2 on Friday night in the Subway Series opener, and this one was built around power pitching, timely two-out offense, and a lineup that finally gave its starter enough breathing room.

Schlittler was the story. Ben Rice was right there with him. Jazz Chisholm Jr. was all over the game. And the Yankees, after a rough stretch on this road trip, finally looked like the better team for nine innings.

Schlittler Looked Like He Owned The Moment

This was Schlittler’s Subway Series debut, and you would not have known it by the way he carried himself.

He went 6.2 innings, allowed just two hits, gave up one earned run, walked two, and struck out nine. He threw 106 pitches, 71 for strikes, and kept the Mets uncomfortable all night.

That is the kind of start that changes the whole feel of a game.

The Mets did not have many real answers against him. Schlittler attacked with velocity, filled the zone, and kept hitters stuck between being late on the fastball and defensive in two-strike counts.

He struck out Carson Benge and Juan Soto in the first. He punched out MJ Melendez and Marcus Semien in the second. He kept stacking outs, and by the time the Mets looked up, they were still sitting on one hit going into the seventh inning.

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That is not surviving.

That is controlling a lineup.

Even when the Mets made contact, it was not enough to flip the game. Schlittler got flyouts, groundouts, and even handled a couple of comebackers that caught him on the lower body. He stayed in the game, kept making pitches, and never let the moment get away from him.

The only real mistake came in the seventh, when Juan Soto jumped on an 0-2 fastball and sent it out to center for a solo home run.

And listen, Soto is Soto. You leave something there, he can still punish it. That swing cut the Yankees’ lead to 4-1, but it did not change the story of the night.

Schlittler still left this game looking like the guy who owned it.

The Third Inning Was The Difference

The Yankees did nothing in the first inning. They got one infield single from Jazz Chisholm Jr. in the second, but that went nowhere after Ryan McMahon and Anthony Volpe struck out around a Spencer Jones groundout.

Then the third inning happened.

And that was the inning that broke the game open.

Austin Wells flew out. Trent Grisham flew out. Two outs, nobody on, and it looked like Clay Holmes might cruise through another quiet inning.

Then Ben Rice singled to shallow right.

Aaron Judge followed with a single to right.

Now the Yankees had something.

Cody Bellinger came up and ripped a double to right, scoring Rice and moving Judge to third. That gave the Yankees a 1-0 lead.

Then Jazz Chisholm Jr. came through with the swing of the game, lacing a two-run double to right to bring home Bellinger and Judge.

Just like that, 3-0 Yankees.

That is the kind of inning this lineup needs more of. Not just waiting for the solo home run. Not just hoping Judge saves everything. Two-out pressure. Singles. Doubles. Extra-base damage. Make the pitcher feel every pitch.

Holmes had two outs and nobody on.

The Yankees turned that into three runs.

That is winning baseball.

Jazz Chisholm Did A Little Bit Of Everything

Jazz was a problem in this game.

He finished 3-for-4 with a run scored, two RBIs, a walk, a double, and a stolen base.

That is a complete night.

He started his game with an infield single in the second. He delivered the two-run double in the third. He walked and scored in the fifth. He singled again in the ninth.

And he stole third base in the fourth just because he could.

This is the version of Jazz the Yankees need. Active. Aggressive. Annoying for the other team. Not trying to be one-dimensional. Not just swinging for damage every at-bat. He impacted the game with his bat, legs, and energy.

You can talk about his season numbers all you want, and yeah, the overall line still needs work. But in this game? He was one of the biggest reasons the Yankees won.

No debate.

Ben Rice Keeps Looking Like A Real Problem

Ben Rice is becoming one of those bats where you stop treating the production like a hot streak and start asking a bigger question.

What if this is just who he is now?

Rice went 3-for-5 with two runs scored, an RBI, and a ninth-inning home run off Craig Kimbrel. That was his 14th homer of the season.

His slash line after this game sat at .314/.418/.686 with a 1.104 OPS.

That is not a cute little side story.

That is middle-of-the-order impact.

Rice started the third-inning rally with a two-out single. He added another infield single in the fourth to help load the bases. Then in the ninth, with the Yankees already up 4-1, he gave them insurance by taking Kimbrel deep to right.

Huge swing.

Because with the Yankees, especially lately, you do not turn down insurance runs. You do not assume anything is over. You add on when you can, and Rice did exactly that.

That home run made it 5-1 and gave David Bednar a bigger cushion for the bottom of the ninth.

Spencer Jones Quietly Added A Big RBI

Spencer Jones did not have the loudest night, but he gave the Yankees a real contribution.

Jones went 2-for-4 with an RBI. His biggest at-bat came in the fifth inning after Chisholm walked and moved to second on a Ryan McMahon groundout.

Jones came up against Austin Warren and singled to shallow right, scoring Jazz and pushing the Yankees’ lead to 4-0.

That mattered.

For a young player trying to settle into big-league games, those are the at-bats you build on. Simple approach. Ball in play. Run home.

Nothing has to be forced.

Just help the team win.

The Yankees Still Left Too Many Men On Base

Now, because we are not doing fake sunshine here, the Yankees still had chances to make this game uglier.

They had 10 hits and four walks, but they also struck out 11 times and left 17 runners on base as a team.

That is a lot.

Austin Wells left five. Judge left three. Grisham left three. McMahon left three. The Yankees had the bases loaded in the fourth and came away with nothing after Judge flew out to right.

That is the part that keeps you from fully relaxing.

Yes, they won. Yes, they scored five. Yes, the big hits came when they needed them.

But against better teams, or on nights when the starter is not dominating, those missed chances can come back and bite you.

The good news is the Yankees did enough.

The honest part is they could have done more.

Fernando Cruz Shut Down The Only Real Threat

The Mets finally made noise in the seventh.

Soto led off with the home run. Brett Baty walked. Marcus Semien reached on an infield single. Then a wild pitch moved runners to second and third with two outs.

That was the spot where the game could have gotten stupid.

We have seen enough of those innings. One bloop, one bad pitch, one mistake, and suddenly a comfortable game turns into chaos.

Fernando Cruz came in and got A.J. Ewing to fly out to right.

Threat over.

Then Cruz came back out for the eighth and handled it clean. Luis Torrens grounded out. Carson Benge grounded out. Bo Bichette struck out swinging.

That is exactly what the Yankees needed from the bridge to the ninth.

Bednar Bent, But He Did Not Break

David Bednar had some traffic in the ninth, and it was not the cleanest finish.

He walked Soto to start the inning, got Mark Vientos to hit into a double play, then gave up a single to MJ Melendez and an RBI single to Brett Baty.

That made it 5-2.

But Bednar got Marcus Semien to line out to third and ended it.

Was it perfect? No.

Was it enough? Yes.

And after the Yankees have had their share of late-inning nonsense lately, enough is fine when you already have the win in your pocket.

Clay Holmes Got Hit By His Old Team

You knew this part was going to have a little extra flavor.

Clay Holmes started for the Mets against the Yankees and took the loss. He went 4.1 innings, allowed seven hits, four earned runs, walked two, and struck out eight.

The strikeout number was there, but the Yankees made him work.

He threw 95 pitches and could not get through five innings.

The third inning hurt him. The fifth inning finished him. Chisholm walked, McMahon moved him over, and then Jones brought him home after Holmes was out of the game but still responsible for the runner.

Holmes entered with a much lower ERA, but after this one, it jumped to 2.39.

Baseball is funny like that.

One night you are facing your old team, and the next thing you know, Rice, Bellinger, Jazz, and Jones are all part of the damage.

Final Read

This was a strong Yankees win because it had structure.

Starter dominates.

Offense gets the big two-out hits.

Young bat contributes.

Middle relief stops the Mets from making it a game.

Insurance run in the ninth.

Finish it off.

That is how it is supposed to look.

The Yankees improved to 28-17, while the Mets dropped to 18-26. And for all the Subway Series noise, this game was not complicated.

The Yankees had the better starter.

The Yankees had the better lineup.

The Yankees made the bigger swings.

Cam Schlittler looked like a monster. Ben Rice kept looking like one of the most dangerous bats in the lineup. Jazz Chisholm gave them everything. And the Yankees walked into Citi Field and took Game 1, 5-2.

Now the job is simple.

Do not waste it.

Win the series.

Felix Pantaleón Avatar

Felix Pantaleón

Founder

Born in Manhattan, New York, Felix Pantaleon is a Dominican-American digital content creator and the founder of NYYNEWS, one of the first and longest-running independent New York Yankees content creator platforms, active since 2005.

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