Yankees rookie Cam Schlittler tries to learn from disturbing outing

BALTIMORE — The four days between starts seemed a bit longer than usual for Cam Schlittler. But he didn’t dwell on it.

“It’s moving on as quick as possible,” Schlittler said Saturday on the eve of his start in the Yankees' series finale against the Orioles on Sunday.

The  rookie righthander had the worst start of his career in his previous outing. Staked to an early 10-1 lead on Tuesday night in Minneapolis, he was unable to get out of the fifth inning as he failed to consistently find the strike zone.

“It’s embarrassing,”  Schlittler — who allowed four runs, three hits and a season-high five walks in 4 2/3 innings in which he threw 89 pitches, only 49 of them strikes — said after that 10-9 victory over the Twins. “You gotta get in the zone, especially with that lead.”

The 24-year-old, whose command  has been a strength since he made his big-league debut on July 9, spoke evenly after Tuesday’s game but with clear disgust in himself.

And it was a completely different feeling from the only other comparably bad start he’s had, on Sept. 5 against the Blue Jays, when he allowed four runs and five hits in a season-low 1 2/3 innings in a 7-1 loss.

“The Toronto one, it was just kind of like, whatever. Sometimes that stuff will happen,” Schlittler, 3-3 with a 3.41 ERA in 12 starts, said Saturday afternoon. “But the other day was kind of like, I kind of gave it to them a little bit in the fifth, walking guys. Kind of realized within like an hour after the game what I needed to fix. It’s more like I wish I could have gone out there and re-do it. But that’s just part of it, especially being a starter. You’ve just got to learn to take it in and then you’ve got to sit there for four or five days and lean on it.”

After talks with pitching coach Matt Blake, assistant pitching coach Preston Claiborne and fellow rotation member Carlos Rodon, Schlittler said his primary issue in the start against the Twins was “mechanical,” specifically when it came to his best pitch, a fastball that routinely sits in the range of 98 to 99 mph.

“That’s something I went over yesterday [Friday] in my bullpen with the coaches. Carlos was there,” Schlittler said. “I feel like I finished well with the off-speed consistently, I was just tugging it a little bit with the fastball, not finishing as well. Arm was just slightly a little bit behind than it usually is. That’s not something  that I can really recognize myself immediately, but it was brought to my attention and tried to feel it out yesterday while working on fastball command in my bullpen . . . and try and take it into tomorrow.”

Schlittler  knows he’s at the end of a two-pitcher audition with reigning AL Rookie of the Year Luis Gil to see whom the Yankees will start in Game 3 of a best-of-three Wild Card Series.

Though the Yankees still are mathematically alive for the AL East title, the far more likely outcome for them is the top wild-card spot. Max Fried is expected to start Game 1 with Rodon, who started Saturday night against the Orioles, going in Game 2.

That leaves either Schlittler or Gil for a deciding Game 3, if necessary.

“It’s there,” Schlittler said of thinking about what’s on the line. “At the end of the day, I’m a rookie and I’ve got to earn that opportunity . . . Obviously, the goal is to go out there and start games, but you can’t have those slip-ups like I did in Minnesota. It’s there, but again, it’s really just in the back of my mind. It’s not something I’m too worried about right now. We’ll get there in a week. But the goal is to go out there and help the team when it matters the most. If I’m provided the opportunity, I’ll definitely make the most it. But if not, I trust the other guys they give the ball to.”

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.