This time, Boston Red Sox starter Payton Tolle wasn’t going to be denied.
Twice in his first five major league starts, Tolle left the mound in line for the win, but was denied both times when reliever Greg Weissert allowed the opposition to flip the scoreboard. While the Detroit Tigers attempted to mount a late comeback at Comerica Park on Monday, it wasn’t enough to spoil Tolle’s masterpiece.
After pitching into the seventh for the first time as a big-leaguer and carving up the Tigers for eight strikeouts without allowing an earned run, Tolle finally got his first major league win in his 10th trip to the mound in the regular season.
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Tolle’s revamped three-fastball combination has been working wonders this season in his three major league starts, and it was working to perfection on Monday. He threw 30 four-seamers, 19 sinkers, and 15 cutters, accounting for 63% of the pitches he threw on the night. Those offerings kept hitters off his curveball, which wound up becoming his great equalizer for the night.
With that hammer curveball, Tolle generated four whiffs on just nine swings and tallied three of his eight strikeouts. The other five all came on the four-seamer, which was the pitch that caused Tolle to rocket his way through the minors a year ago.
But because these are the 2026 Red Sox, Tolle was down 2-0 through six innings. In the bottom of the sixth inning, wild throws from catcher Carlos Narváez and third baseman Andruw Monasterio allowed Detroit to score twice without Tolle bearing any fault.
Fortunately, a wild lightning situation in which fans were forced to take shelter without delaying the game somehow led to the Red Sox scoring five runs in the top of the seventh, with Jarren Duran’s three-run home run clanging off an empty seat in a scene straight out of the 2020 pandemic season.
Sometimes, making something happen for the first time takes a perfect storm. But Tolle also made his own luck in this masterpiece, which should be the first of many for the 23-year-old.
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