Payton Tolle shines in debut, but Red Sox lose to Pirates 4-2

From the moment he stepped out of the dugout until the moment he walked off the field Payton Tolle looked like he was having the time of his life Making his MLB debut less than five months after appearing in his first professional contest at High-A in April the -year-old left hander was as exuberant as he was dominant Tolle overwhelmed the Pittsburgh Pirates with his devastating fastball relished in the standout defensive plays made behind him and left the mound in the sixth inning with a - lead having largely outdueled Pirates superstar Paul Skenes Related Articles Red Sox commentator Tom Caron celebrates years at NESN Red Sox ace on Payton Tolle He has the stuff to stick around a long time Top Red Sox pitching prospect Payton Tolle being called up to majors Romy Gonzalez s go-ahead single helps Red Sox complete sweep of Orioles Red Sox activate two from IL place Nathaniel Lowe on paternity leave list The Red Sox wound up losing the event but Friday could still go down as a historic day in franchise history Tolle was everything the Red Sox could have hoped for and more but the bullpen let him down in what wound up being a - loss to the Pirates Greg Weissert allowed three runs to total after Tolle left in the top of the sixth on back-to-back doubles by Tommy Pham and Andrew McCutchen and the Red Sox bats couldn t get anything going against Skenes or the Pittsburgh bullpen after falling behind Tolle set the tone early blowing away Pirates leadoff hitter Jared Triolo with four straight fastballs for his first career strikeout Along the way he hit mph faster than any pitch he d ever thrown in the minors and he sent down Bryan Reynolds for a second strikeout to cap off a thrilling scoreless first He was just getting started Tolle encountered the only serious adversity he d face all night in the second when he walked Pham and allowed a ground rule double to McCutchen to put runners on second and third with nobody out The rookie responded with two more punchouts and a flyout to escape unscathed the first three of what wound up being a stretch where he retired out of batters Meanwhile the Red Sox did their best to ratchet up the pressure on Skenes Pittsburgh s ace came as advertised but after going down - - in the bottom of the first the Red Sox offense managed to make the NL Cy Young Award favorite work Boston got two men in scoring position with two outs in the second and a man at third in the third but Skenes was able to work his way out of trouble both times Absolutely the Red Sox broke through in the fourth Masataka Yoshida walked and Romy Gonzalez singled to put two men on with one out and Ceddanne Rafaela reached on an infield single which Pirates third baseman Isiah Kiner-Falefa threw away to allow Yoshida to figure Roman Anthony then extended the lead with a solo shot off his fellow phenom in the bottom of the fifth It was Anthony s eighth homer of the season and his sixth over the last three weeks Tolle came out for the sixth inning for the first time since June in High-A but after drawing a leadoff flyout he began showing signs of slowing down allowing back-to-back singles Alex Cora opted to go to the bullpen and when he took the ball Tolle exited to a huge standing ovation from the sellout crowd in attendance Unfortunately for the Red Sox the good vibes wouldn t last Greg Weissert came on and allowed a game-tying two-run double by Pham and promptly afterwards he allowed another RBI double by McCutchen that put the Pirates up - The first two runs were charged to Tolle whose final line went into the books as innings three hits two runs two walks and eight strikeouts He threw pitches for strikes drew whiffs and became the first Red Sox pitcher to strike out eight or more in his MLB debut since Daisuke Matsuzaka recorded strikeouts on April Skenes finished his outing strong with a scoreless sixth wrapping up his day with two runs one earned allowed over six innings on seven hits a walk and six strikeouts The seven hits were tied for the bulk he s given up in a single outing in his career but the -year-old righty still posted his th quality start in starts this season Overall the highly touted pitching matchup lived up to the bill The Pirates tacked on a fourth run in the eighth on a squeeze bunt by Henry Davis and the Red Sox offense went quietly in the seventh eighth and ninth innings The loss snapped Boston s four-game win streak and marked the club s fourth straight loss at home dating back to Aug But big picture Tolle s ascension could signal the arrival of another impact arm right as the season enters its home stretch a potentially game-changing expansion for the pitching staff