No. 9 batter Austin Wells drove in two runs and 21-year-old rookie George Lombard Jr. had three hits for New York in his postseason debut.
Schlittler, who led the American League with a 1.95 ERA, allowed only two singles and one walk in 6 1/3 innings without letting a runner reach second base. He threw 117 pitches — 10 more than his previous career high and most by a Yankees postseason starter since Hall of Fame lefty CC Sabathia threw 121 in the 2012 AL Division Series against Baltimore.
“I got a little greedy,” Boone said.
The major league high this season was 120 by Dylan Cease for Toronto at Boston in July.
The 25-year-old Schlittler retired 13 straight batters before a two-out walk in the fifth, bringing several chants of “MVP! MVP!” from the sellout crowd of 48,437 in the Bronx. He walked off the mound to a standing ovation after yielding a one-out single in the seventh, and Paul Blackburn promptly got Ceddanne Rafaela to ground into an inning-ending double play that preserved a 2-0 lead.
New York outhit Boston 12-3 in the fifth postseason shutout since 2002 for the Yankees, who led the majors in ERA this year for the first time since 1957.
Game 2 in the best-of-three series at Yankee Stadium is Wednesday night, when a victory would send New York into a best-of-five Division Series against AL East champion Tampa Bay.
Going into this postseason, Game 1 winners had advanced 15 times in the 16 best-of-three Wild Card Series since the format was implemented in 2022. The only exception was the Red Sox last year.
Boston and New York have split six previous postseason matchups. The Yankees took last year’s Wild Card Series between the longtime rivals on the strength of Schlittler’s dominant performance in Game 3, when the rookie struck out 12 over eight innings in a 4-0 win.
Schlittler has said he received on-line abuse before some of his outings against Boston. He’s used it as motivation.
The right-hander is 4-1 with a 0.47 ERA and 49 strikeouts in six career starts against the Red Sox — including the playoffs.
“It’s very well known that if you want to be a legend, which is obviously the goal, you’ve got to do it in the postseason,” Schlittler said.
Rice gave the Yankees a 2-0 lead with a 423-foot solo homer into Monument Park in straightaway center field on the third pitch from left-handed reliever Erik Miller, who replaced Payton Tolle with two outs in the fifth after the rookie starter threw 83 pitches.
The 27-year-old Rice added a run-scoring single with the bases loaded in the seventh and a grand slam to right-center that capped a five-run eighth.
The 16th slam in Yankees postseason history gave Rice six RBIs, matching the franchise record for a postseason game accomplished by four other players.
Rice also homered in Game 2 of last year’s Wild Card Series. He led New York with 41 homers, 97 RBIs and an .897 OPS this year in his third major league season.
“I’ll remember getting a W versus the Red Sox. There’s nothing better than that,” Rice said. “I’ll remember Cam going out there and just being lights out, like he always is. I’ll remember the atmosphere. It was just an awesome night. Great way to kick off the series.”
Up next
Red Sox RHP Sonny Gray (18-5, 2.72 ERA) faces one of his former teams Wednesday night when he makes his seventh postseason start and first since 2023 with Minnesota.
LHP Max Fried (5-5, 2.80 ERA) pitches for New York. The three-time All-Star was limited to 20 starts this season because of two stints on the injured list with a bruised left elbow. He threw 6 1/3 scoreless innings in the Wild Card Series opener last year.
