MLB Notebook: Red Sox starter Lucas Giolito tosses gem Saturday, Payton Tolle dominates in Double-A debut, MiLB updates, and a look around the league

Lucas Giolito had his best outing on the mound on Saturday afternoon, throwing seven scoreless frames for the Red Sox in their 15-1 win over the Blue Jays from Fenway Park.

Giolito tossed his fourth consecutive quality start of the season, allowing just one unearned run, which came off an error by the hurler. He gave up six hits, walked one, and struck out five on 105 pitches (72 strikes).

“Gio was good; we needed that,” Alex Cora said. “Like I always say, if we pitch, we have a shot.”

Something seemed to have changed for Giolito, and he credits working with pitching coach Andrew Bailey for getting him on track. After the Angels dominated Giolito earlier in June, when he allowed seven runs on eight hits and recorded just five outs; he boarded a flight to New York and got to work.

“We got to work looking at some mechanical stuff and made adjustments,” Giolito said. “That bullpen was like this huge step forward for me where it’s like, ‘OK. I feel like myself again. So we can go and pitch and be competitive.’”

Giolito has been spectacular since, allowing just two earned runs in his last 25 innings, recording a 0.72 ERA in four starts.

Cora said that Giolito is able to fix his mechanics in a start if they get “out of whack.”

“Before, the way I was throwing, I went out there and whatever I had that day was what I had just because my slot was so out of sync,” Giolito explained. “Whereas now I can misfire a throw and then kind of feel the correction I need to make and then make the adjustment on the very next pitch. And being able to do that really opens the door to being able to have pitchability within a game and work deeper into games.”

In his start, Giolito threw 58 four-seam fastballs, peaking at 94.9 mph and averaging 93.4 mph, as reported by Baseball Savant.

“I gotta use my fastball up in the zone,” Giolito said. “And then getting it close to guys’ hands kind of opens the door for the breaking balls and the changeup to work. Especially with the righties, it’s important that I show that in-pitch to kind of open things up.”

BIG TIME DEBUT FOR PAYTON TOLLE

One of the Red Sox's top pitching prospects made his Double-A debut just days after he was promoted from High-A Greenville.

Payton Tolle dominated in five innings while allowing one run off one hit and two walks while striking out nine in the Portland Sea Dogs’ 3-2 loss to Binghamton in 11 innings on Saturday night.

Tolle recorded 19 swings and misses, tying for the most among Double-A pitchers. The 6-foot-6, 270-pounder reached 98 mph in his outing, according to SoxProspects.com's Ian Cundall. The southpaw threw 83 pitches in his outing, 57 for strikes. In the fifth inning, he reached a velocity of 98 mph and successfully struck out the team.

Red Sox pitching prospect David Sandlin, ranked No. 11 in the organization by MLB Pipeline, pitched four scoreless innings of relief, allowing just one hit and two walks while striking out seven. Sandlin has a 2.18 ERA (33 innings, eight runs) over his past six outings on the mound.

Prior to his promotion, Tolle pitched in 11 games for High-A Greenville, where he recorded 79 strikeouts in 49 2/3 innings while posting a 3.62 ERA.

Tolle, Boston’s second-round draft pick in 2024, is one of three Red Sox prospects who were promoted to Double-A earlier this week. Left-hander Eduardo Rivera and catcher/first baseman Brooks Brannon also joined Tolle in Portland.

Baseball America ranks Tolle No. 84 on its Top 100 prospect list. The Sox drafted Tolle with the No. 50 overall pick in last summer’s amateur draft.

Tolle was considered a top two-round pitching prospect ahead of the draft and has added velocity to his fastball, which has traditionally sat in the low 90s.

“Credit to him for all the work because he’s been up to 98, and we see that he’s a guy who could survive on probably 75% fastballs,” Craig Breslow said in an interview with MassLive’s Chris Smith.

After Tolle was drafted, the Red Sox held him out of pitching in official pro games, instead having the lefty begin a training program to add strength. He worked with the club’s athletic throwing program, which has helped take his velocity from the low 90s to now touching the high 90s.

RED SOX MiLB INJURY UPDATES

- RHP Luis Perales is continuing to rehab from Tommy John surgery. He is expected to return in late August, according to SoxProspect.com’s Chris Hatfield.

- RHP Juan Valera is rehabbing down in Fort Myers; he has been on the IL with elbow soreness. The 19-year-old has begun a throwing program. Prior to his injury, Valera pitched in eight games, owning a 1-2 record with a 5.40 ERA with 37 strikeouts to nine walks.

- LHP Shane Drohan has been out of action with left forearm inflammation. He has begun throwing ploys and is expected to begin a formal throwing program.

- LHP Jojo Ingrassia has been dealing with shoulder soreness. The Red Sox have slowed down his throwing program for now.

- RHP Brandon Neely, who the Red Sox drafted in the third round last summer, is back on the mound. He has been dealing with forearm stiffness.

- RHP Brady Tygart had surgery on his right pectoral muscle. His timeline for a return is still TBD.

- Veteran C Mark Kolozsvary is out for the year with an ACL injury.

- RHP Nicholas Judice was placed on the full-season IL with an elbow injury. The Yankees acquired him along with Richard Fitts and Greg Weissert in the Alex Verdugo trade.

(As first reported by Chris Hatfield)

OTHER RED SOX MiLB NOTES

- Portland Sea Dogs pitching coach Sean Isaac left the Red Sox organization to become the pitching coach at Loyola Marymount University.

- Earlier this week, LHP PJ Labriola was promoted from the FCL to Low-A Salem. Boston signed the Florida native back on May 22, 2025, when they purchased his contract from the New York Boulders of the Frontier League. His numbers in the FCL don’t exactly jump off the page, pitching to a 6.14 ERA (five earned runs off eight hits). He offers a three-pitch mix that includes a 94-95 mph fastball, a high-80s cutter, and a mid-80s slider.

- Blaze Jordan crushed a 388-foot home run to deep right-center field in the WooSox’ 5-3 win over Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in 10 innings. The 22-year-old slugger is slashing .303/.347.517/.864, with three homers, eight doubles, and one triple in 22 games.

- Kristian Campbell celebrated his 23rd birthday with a go-ahead two-run single in the 10th inning for the WooSox. He has made two starts at first base since he was demoted to Triple-A Worcester. 

- LHP Noah Dean allowed just one run off three hits and one walk while striking out seven in five innings in the Greenville Drive’s 2-0 loss to Rome.

QUINN PRIESTER DOMINATES

It took a hefty package to acquire Quinn Priester from the Red Sox, but the righty might have been a steal for the Brewers. Priester dominated the Rockies with 11 strikeouts, pacing Milwaukee to a 5-0 win on Saturday afternoon.

Priester pitched a career-high seven innings with 11 punchouts, delivering the Brewers’ first double-digit strikeout performance since Frankie Montas last September.

"This is the second time we’ve thrown a one-hitter, and I’ve given up the hit," Priester said to reporters following the win. "Tried to get that ball elevated and pulled it down a bit, and he put a good swing. But was happy to keep everything there and put up some zeroes and come up with a win. And going seven, really proud of that."

In 15 games with the Brewers, he has a 3.35 ERA, and the team has won seven of his past eight outings. Priester became the first Brewers pitcher to log double-digit strikeouts this season by generating 20 whiffs on 44 Rockies swings, including 16 whiffs on 23 swings against his slider and curveball.

"I think it protects everything," Priester said. "Meaning you can’t sell out to pulling your hands into that sinker because we can go to that cutter down and away. It's a really bad ball to swing at if you’re trying to hit a sinker on your hands. The secondary stuff all plays off that bottom rail. The more I can do those things, then I can go up with the cutter, and the curveball comes into play. It’s being able to do everything and picking our spots."

The Sox traded Priester in early April in surprise trade for Brewers outfield prospect Yophery Rodriguez, a Competitive Balance Round A pick in the 2025 MLB Draft, and right-handed pitcher John Holobetz.

Boston will received the Brewers' No. 33 overall pick that is worth about $2.7 million in slot value.

At the time of the deal, Rodriguez was ranked as the Brewers No. 7 prospect, hitting .250 with seven homers, 60 RBI, and a .726 OPS in 110 games at Single-A Carolina a year ago. He’s known for his defense and his strong arm, which was considered the best in Milwaukee’s system, according to Baseball America.

This season with in the Red Sox system, Rodriguez has really stuggled offensively for Low-A Salem, hitting .191 with three homers, three triples, eight doubles, 20 RBO, 39 walks, 54 strikeouts, with eight stolen bases.

Holobetz, the Brewers fifth-rounder last season, has pitched in 13 games (10 starts) has a 6-2 record with a 3.09 ERA with 72 strikeouts to 13 walks split between Low-A Carolina and High-A Salem.

MLB DRAFT ON THE HORIZON

The MLB Draft is right around the corner, and the Washington Nationals hold the No. 1 overall selection. There was a point in time when infielder Ethan Holliday was the consensus top selection. Things have shifted some over the last couple of months, and while having both Jackson Holliday and his brother in the Beltway seems tantalizing for MLB, the Nationals could look to draft LSU left-hander Kade Anderson No. 1 overall.

Anderson was named the 2025 Baseball America College Pitcher of the Year. He is the inaugural winner of the award created by Baseball America magazine to honor the nation’s best college hurler.

“Baseball America’s creation of a standalone College Pitcher of the Year award comes at a time when elite arms are under more scrutiny than ever, both by pro evaluators and the sport itself. Anderson’s season—durable, dominant, and deeply competitive—set the gold standard,” the magazine wrote.

Anderson was dominant during the College World Series, earning victories over Arkansas and Coastal Carolina, posting a 0.56 ERA while allowing just one run on six hits in 16.0 innings with 17 strikeouts. The southpaw fired only the second complete-game shutout in LSU’s CWS history when he defeated Coastal Carolina, hurling a three-hitter in Game 1 of the CWS Finals.

The Red Sox own the No. 15 overall pick in the draft, and while the focus remains on improving the pitching pipeline, Boston should take the best available player.

CBS Sports completed a mock draft in which the Sox selected Texas A&M slugger Jace LaViolette. Adding a power bat in LaViolette will be a huge get for the Red Sox, who are graduating prospects at the big league level in Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer, and Campbell. Boston recently added James Tibbs III in the Rafael Devers trade and adding a legitimate all-fields type of power bat in LaViolette will be a massive addition to the Red Sox farm system.

PIRATES LEGEND DAVE PARKER DIES

Dave Parker passed away on Saturday, just days before his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame next month. He was 74.

There’s no details around the death of Parker.

The Pirates informed the crowd of his death just before the start of their game against the Mets.

Parker, nicknamed “the Cobra,” played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball, including 11 for the Pirates. He was the NL MVP in 1978, won a World Series with Pittsburgh a year later and then won another championship in 1989 with the Oakland Athletics.

“All of us who grew up in the ’70s remember how special Dave was,” Pirates owner Bob Nutting said in a statement. “He had a big personality and his passing has left a bigger void for all who knew him. Our hearts go out to his wife, Kellye, and his family.”

Parker won the National League batting titles in 1977 and ’79. He was a career .290 hitter with 339 homers and 1,493 RBIs. He also played for Cincinnati, Milwaukee, the California Angels and Toronto.

Parker was elected to the Hall of Fame by a special committee in December. The induction ceremony in Cooperstown, New York, is set for July 27.

“We join the baseball family in remembering Dave Parker. His legacy will be one of courage and leadership, matched only by his outstanding accomplishments on the field,” Hall chairman Jane Forbes Clark said. “His election to the Hall of Fame in December brought great joy to him, his family and all the fans who marveled at his remarkable abilities.”

AROUND THE LEAGUE

- Red Sox reliever Jordan Hicks is expected to be activated before the series opener with the Reds on Monday. 

- The 2025 Home Run Derby is set to take place on July 14 at Truist Park, and the participants are slowly being announced.

Braves star Ronald Acuna Jr. will look to put on a show in front of the home crowd. Mariners slugger Cal Raleigh will also join the field. He will look to become the first catcher to win the derby.

The past two winners of the derby, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Teoscar Hernandez, will not participate in the event. Shohei Ohtani is also unlikely to join the group.

- Rays shortstop Wander Franco received a two-year suspended sentence after being found guilty of sexual abuse of a minor in the Dominican Republic. He’ll likely never play again in Major League Baseball following his conviction. 

Franco’s only hope to be permitted back in the country is to file an appeal and have the court overturn the conviction. He has five days to appeal after his sentence is formally issued on July 27. He will likely forfeit the remainder of his 11-year, $182 million contract, which includes $154 million owed to him.

- The Pirates have reportedly been in serious trade talks for over a week with the Cubs around starter Mitch Keller, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. The righty is in the second year of a five-year, $77 million deal through 2028.

Keller is a one-time All-Star who is 2-10 with a 3.90 ERA across 17 starts with 77 strikeouts over 99 1/3 innings. He would immediately help the Cubs rotation that lost Justin Steele to season-ending Tommy John surgery. Shota Imanaga has missed time with a hamstring injury but recently rejoined their rotation.

- Contract extension talks have cooled between Astros shortstop Jeremy Pena and the Astros. It was believed the two sides were optimistic about agreeing to a five-year, $100 million extension a few weeks back. Things quickly went south after Pena left the Beverly Hills Sports Council for Scott Boras.

- Rangers ace Jacob deGrom is healthy again and should be a 2025 All-Star in a few weeks. He is 8-2, with a 2.08 ERA, and flirted with a no-hitter this week.

- Reds starter Nick Martinez also nearly threw a no-hitter over the weekend. He threw 115 pitches and exited after the double, which broke up the no-hit bid.

- The Reds also designated infielder Jeimer Candelario for assignment, eating $22.5 million of his three-year, $45 million contract.

- The Astros are reportedly interested in adding Orioles outfielder Cedric Mullins before the trade deadline.

- Atlanta will get back outfielder Jurickson Profar following his 80-game suspension.