Payton Tolle Won't Back Down From His Monumental Game 1 Challenge Against Yankees

[Alex Mayes]

The Boston Red Sox made it official this week, naming rookie southpaw Payton Tolle the Game 1 starter for their Wild Card Round clash against the New York Yankees. While this is what I had been advocating for on recent episodes of the Talk Sox Podcast, there was a lot of debate amongst fans between which starter between Tolle or veteran Sonny Gray should get the nod to take the rubber in the opener. Manager Chad Tracy went with the rookie with the electric stuff and, judging by Tolle’s quotes from the first media availability on Monday afternoon, he’s up to the task. 

Since I’ve already profiled how the pitcher Tolle is squaring off against, Cam Schlittler, has fared against the Red Sox, I wanted to do the same for the hulking southpaw.. Starting with his overall season numbers, Tolle turned in 148.2 innings, a 28.4 K%, 6.6 BB%, 3.03 ERA, 3.04 FIP, and a 4.1 fWAR. He finished the season with 171 strikeouts to only 40 walks while only allowing 50 earned runs. His batting average allowed sits at an impressive .221 mark. If we shrink that down to just his starts on the road though, his numbers get even better. 

Road Tolle has been an absolute dog all season. He’s pitched 72 innings away from Fenway Park and has posted a 25.1 K%, 6.5 BB%, 2.50 ERA, and a 3.07 FIP. Plus, sis batting average allowed on the road shrunk down to an even more impressive .202. Tolle has been dominant all season, but he seems to shine even brighter when he’s challenging a hostile crowd. Luckily for him, the Wild Card Series takes place in the same location he first got a taste of the postseason last year.

Before we dive into Tolle’s numbers against the Bronx Bombers, it needs to be said that he’s only made two starts against them this season, and both of those were at home. Still, the numbers at Fenway indicate that we’re in for an absolute gem of a start come Tuesday night. 

In Tolle’s first outing against the Yankees, he actually lined up against Schlittler and went almost pitch for pitch with him. Tolle tossed six innings of three-hit, one-run, 11-strikeout baseball. The lone sour mark on Tolle’ line came off a Pesky homer hit by Jazz Chisholm. Since this was the early season Red Sox, though, Tolle was handed a no-decision after the bullpen fell apart late in the game.

The second time Tolle saw the Yankees, he was utterly dominant. He went seven shutout innings while walking two, striking out seven, and only allowing one hit. He was able to carry a perfect game into the sixth inning in this start, which came during the magical run of the summer. In these two starts against the Yankees, Tolle allowed a grand total of one run in 13 frames. He’s dominated Boston’s biggest rivals, and now it’s time for him to continue to do so under the bright lights of (almost) October.

With those numbers in mind, it stands to reason that Payton Tolle is going to walk into Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night in primetime and be his usual dominant self. The Red Sox lost some firepower in the bullpen as the season was winding down, but Tolle has already provided quite a bit of length in his two starts against the Yankees; another deep outing could go a long way to giving Chad Tracy a full assortment of bullpen options in Games 2 and 3.

It’s a lot of pressure to put on a rookie to walk into your rival’s stadium and out-duel the likely Cy Young winner, but Tolle only seems to get better when the challenge is greater. A win in this contest would set the Sox up perfectly to avenge their loss from one year ago.

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