The Yankees and Red Sox rivalry didn’t need an introduction, but Cam Schlittler wrote a new chapter on October 2 that reminded everyone why these two teams’ elimination games are more important than regular baseball. When a 6-foot-6 rookie takes the mound at Yankee Stadium with the season on the line, something amazing has to happen. Schlittler did just that, striking out 12 Red Sox hitters in eight shutout innings to win Game 3 and send New York to the ALDS with a 4-0 win.

Former Mets general manager Steve Phillips saw the Yankees rookie take down Boston’s lineup with a fastball that seemed to get faster as it got closer to home plate. That night, Phillips saw something special happen, and he made sure everyone knew how big a deal it was that Schlittler did it against one of baseball’s most famous offenses.

Phillips didn’t hold back when he talked about it on SiriusXM’s MLB Network Radio. “The Red Sox hitters could not catch up to his fastball. It had that second gear when it got to home plate, or the 4th gear when it got to home plate. It just jumped on them,” Phillips said. He talked about Alex Cora’s interview with ESPN during the game, in which the manager of the Boston Red Sox admitted that his team needed to make some changes. “He talked about how we’ve got to get on the fastball. We’ve got to get on the fastball. They never were able to make the adjustment to get there.”

Phillips said that MLB Network’s replay analysis showed how pointless it was for the Red Sox to keep missing swings. They couldn’t catch up. His four-seam fastball averaged 98.9 mph and reached a top speed of 100.8 mph. His sinker, on the other hand, was 97.5 mph. “It was an extraordinary effort by this young man,” Phillips said, adding that the crowd’s eruption when Schlittler returned for the eighth inning was “one of the loudest cheers for the entire night.”

The game was scoreless for three innings, but the fourth inning changed everything. Cody Bellinger’s bloop double fell between three Red Sox defenders and set Yankee Stadium on fire. Connelly Early walked Giancarlo Stanton, then gave up singles in a row to Amed Rosario, Jazz Chisholm21, and Anthony Volpe, giving the home team a 2-0 lead. Austin Wells made the lead bigger when his hard grounder hit Nathaniel Lowe’s glove and bounced into right field, scoring two more runs.

Schlittler never looked back and set a record for the most strikeouts by a Yankees rookie in the playoffs with 12. When he came back for the eighth inning, the crowd went wild when he struck out Romy Gonzalez and Trevor Story. David Bednar finished the ninth, ending Boston’s three-game elimination streak against New York that had been going on since 2004. Ryan McMahon’s head-over-heels catch on Jarren Duran’s foul pop, with his No. 19 jersey showing like Aaron Boone’s from 2003, was a sign of the exorcism.

The win only told half the story. What Schlittler did on that mound went beyond just winning an elimination game; it was something that doesn’t happen very often in the postseason.

Cam Schlittler makes Yankees history against Boston

Such authority came with a history that most people didn’t see coming. Cam Schlittler set a record at the age of 24 by doing something that had never been done in postseason baseball. Eight shutout innings, twelve strikeouts, and no walks—this was a combination that no pitcher had ever pulled off in October. The rookie worked like a surgeon, taking apart Boston’s lineup without letting them get a free pass to first base.

The eighth inning showed how well he could do his job. Seven pitches led to three outs, which was a masterclass in control that left Aaron Boone with a tough choice. The manager could have let his rookie try to become immortal by pitching a complete game, but he chose to be smart over being sentimental. Boone took Schlittler out of the game after 107 pitches, 75 of which were strikes. He gave the ball to David Bednar to protect the arm that could take the Yankees deep into October.

The closest thing to what Schlittler did happened 76 years ago. In Game 1 of the 1949 World Series, Dodgers rookie Dan Newcombe struck out 11 batters without giving up a walk. This record stood alone until Thursday night. Schlittler also broke the Yankees’ record for most strikeouts in a postseason debut, beating out players who wore pinstripes before him.

His regular season told a different story. Schlittler had a good 2.96 ERA and struck out 84 batters in 14 starts and 73 innings. He walked 81 times, which was almost as many as he struck out. In light of that, his zero-walk masterpiece against Boston is even more impressive. The stage made his talent stand out more than his flaws, showing that he is a pitcher who does best when everything is on the line.