Add The New York Post on Google A team playing for the playoffs seemed more inspired than a team playing for pride.
Or maybe motivation wasn’t a factor and Cam Schlittler’s power was simply overwhelming when matched against the Mets’ second-half pluck.
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Regardless of the reasoning, the Yankees showed why they will play far bigger series this season than this September Subway Series, which marked the last somewhat meaningful weekend of the Mets’ year.
Schlittler was dominant to complement an offense that amounted to just two big swings in a 2-0 shutout of the Mets in front of 45,508 in The Bronx on Sunday afternoon, when the Yankees were not expected to clinch a playoff spot but did claim a set from their red-hot, playing-for-nothing neighbors.
The Yankees (86-63) remained four games behind the Rays, who don’t seem to lose, while the Mets (69-80) dropped to 22-14 since a trade deadline in which they waved goodbye to much of their club and waved a white flag.
Since Aug. 3, the Mets’ season has taken on a different hue, with development more important than details like the score. Against the front-runner for the American League Cy Young on Sunday was an opportunity for growth.
“Anytime you go up against the best, you actually should smile and enjoy the challenge of it,” Mets interim manager Andy Green said, though if there were any smiles Schlittler would have used his heat to erase those, too.
The young righty was the best pitcher on the day and in the series, bulldozing through the sizzling Mets offense through six scoreless, one-hit innings that seemed easy until they turned scary for the Yankees.
Schlittler’s last batter of the matinee was Bo Bichette, who smashed a 111.5 mph comebacker off Schlittler’s leg in a moment that evoked Spencer Jones vs. Clay Holmes.
The ace hopped on his other leg — Schlittler’s only acknowledgement of any pain — before walking off the field with Austin Wells’ arm around him after the catcher fielded the ricochet and threw out Bichette for the final out of the top of the sixth.
Otherwise, Schlittler inflicted more pain than he felt while striking out eight and lowering his ERA to 1.95.
The usual trio — Brent Headrick, Paul Blackburn and David Bednar, who struck out a heavily booed Juan Soto in the ninth — locked down a game in which the Mets barely threatened (with just two at-bats with a runner who had advanced as far as second base) and the Yankees’ offense required just two swings.
Against Christian Scott (six innings, two runs, seven strikeouts, two walks), the Yankees only managed three hits, but two of those were Ben Rice and Wells home runs.
The first arrived on Scott’s fifth pitch, Rice hooking a splitter that did not dive enough 333 feet and taking advantage of the short porch for his 38th homer of the season.
The lead doubled in the third, when an ice-cold Wells, who entered the at-bat in an 0-for-21 slide, turned on an up-in-the-zone four-seamer and clobbered it to the second deck in right.
