Cam Schlittler second postseason act was good but not good enough to save Yankees season

Cam Schlittler tried to save the Yankees’ season again in the playoffs on Wednesday.This time, he came up short — in large part because the Yankee offense was mostly shut down by Toronto’s bullpen — in a 5-2 Game 4 ALDS loss in The Bronx that sent the Yankees packing.Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Greg Joyce about the inside buzz on the Yankees.

The rookie right-hander, so dominant in a decisive Game 3 of the wild-card series against the Red Sox last week, when Schlittler tossed eight shutout innings and struck out a dozen to send the Yankees to the ALDS, was still good — just not good enough.In his second postseason start — and just the 16th of his major league career since being called up in July — Schlittler allowed four runs, two earned, in 6 ⅓ innings and was the only Yankee starter to get an out in the fourth inning in the series.After suffering through his worst major league start on Sept.5 against the Blue Jays, when Schlittler allowed four runs and didn’t make it out of the second inning, he held the relentless Blue Jays lineup to two runs into the seventh before his defense and Devin Williams let him down.He found trouble early, with a leadoff double by George Springer and a one-out, RBI single by Yankee-killer Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

for the game’s first run. A base hit by Addison Barger prolonged the inning before Schlittler got Alejandro Kirk to hit a foul pop-up, where Austin Wells made a nice play, and Cody Bellinger saved a run by making a sliding catch of Daulton Varsho’s fly ball down the left field line. He settled down for the next few innings, but in the fifth, Schlittler may have had some self-inflicted damage, as Toronto took the lead again.After the pesky Ernie Clement led off with a single, Andrés Gimenez hit a bouncer up the middle.Schlittler appeared to pull his glove back, perhaps believing second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr.was in place to start a double...