Payton Tolle flirts with perfection in Red Sox’ 6-1 win over Yankees

Don’t look now, but the Red Sox have taken the first two games of their four-game series against the Yankees, and they’ve done it at Fenway Park, where wins have been hard to come by this season.

Boston leaned on another dominant outing from rookie left-hander Payton Tolle, who continues to have New York’s lineup searching for answers.

Tolle retired the first 16 batters he faced, carrying a perfect game into the sixth inning before Spencer Jones lined a single to left field to spoil the bid.

The rookie was outstanding in Boston’s 6-1 victory, allowing just one hit over seven scoreless innings while walking two and striking out seven. It marked another impressive performance against the Yankees after Tolle struck out 11 over six innings in his major league debut against New York earlier this season.

Tolle etched his name into the Red Sox record books with another dominant performance.

The 23-year-old became the first Boston pitcher to throw at least seven scoreless innings while allowing one hit or fewer since Ranger Suarez tossed eight scoreless on April 27. He also became the youngest Red Sox pitcher to accomplish the feat since Eduardo Rodríguez on Sept. 16, 2016.

From the opening pitch, Tolle was in complete control.

He needed just nine pitches to retire the Yankees in order in the first inning, then came within one pitch of an immaculate inning in the second. Tolle struck out Jasson Domínguez, José Caballero and Jazz Chisholm Jr. on just 10 pitches, falling one strike shy of the rare feat.

Tolle retired the side on 10 pitches in the third, worked around the heart of the Yankees’ lineup in a 17-pitch fourth, and breezed through a five-pitch fifth inning. Through five perfect frames, he had retired all 15 batters he faced on only 51 pitches.

The rookie generated 11 swings and misses, according to Baseball Savant, with his entire arsenal working. He produced four whiffs with his four-seam fastball, four with his cutter and three more with his curveball, keeping New York’s hitters off balance all night.

Boston wasted little time giving Tolle some run support.

The Red Sox struck first in the opening inning with a pair of two-out hits. Wilyer Abreu drove a ball off the wall in center for a triple before Willson Contreras lined an RBI single to center, giving Boston a 1-0 lead.

They broke the game open an inning later.

Boston loaded the bases with nobody out on a bunt single, a base hit and a walk. Making his first start after being called up when Marcelo Mayer landed on the injured list, Tsung-Che Cheng beat out a potential inning-ending double play to record the first RBI of his major league career.

Mickey Gasper followed with another hustle play, legging out a potential double-play ball to drive in a run and stretch the Red Sox lead to 3-0.

Contreras added the exclamation point in the fourth.

The first baseman demolished a 1-2 offering from the Yankees, sending it 418 feet over the Green Monster for his 17th home run of the season. The blast extended Boston’s lead to 4-0 and put Contreras on pace for a career-high 34 home runs.

Contreras wasn’t finished making an impact after driving in Boston’s first run of the night.

The Red Sox first baseman found himself in the middle of a heated exchange in the fifth inning after drawing a walk. As he reached first base, he and Yankees starter Will Warren exchanged words, prompting both dugouts and bullpens to empty. Fortunately, the situation quickly cooled down and no punches were thrown before everyone returned to their respective dugouts.

Tolle struck out Anthony Volpe to begin the sixth inning before his perfect-game bid ended one batter later when Jones blooped a single into left field for New York’s first hit of the night.

Boston added to its lead in the bottom of the sixth on Connor Wong’s sacrifice fly, making it 5-0.

Tolle finally began to show signs of fatigue in the seventh after issuing back-to-back two-out walks. Those free passes prompted visits from both Wong and pitching coach Andrew Bailey, but the rookie finished his outing in style by getting Chisholm Jr. to fly out to center field, completing seven dominant scoreless innings.

The Yankees finally broke through in the eighth when Austin Wells drove home a run with a groundout against Tommy Kahnle, but New York never mounted a serious threat.

Wong answered in the bottom half of the inning with a two-out RBI single to restore Boston’s six-run cushion.

Friday also marked a memorable Red Sox debut for Cheng. Called up from Triple-A Worcester after Mayer landed on the injured list, the Chinese Taipei World Baseball Classic infielder picked up his first major league hit with a fourth-inning double. Cheng finished 1-for-3 with a walk, an RBI and a run scored after going hitless in three games with the Pirates last season.

The victory improved Boston to 34-46 overall and 14-25 at Fenway Park, while New York fell to 48-33.

With back-to-back wins, the Red Sox have guaranteed themselves at least a split of the four-game series. They’ll look to clinch the series Saturday afternoon when rookie left-hander Jake Bennett (1-3, 3.71 ERA) faces Yankees ace Gerrit Cole (2-2, 3.62 ERA), who will make his first start at Fenway Park since Sept. 13, 2022. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 p.m. ET.

Red Sox Place Marcelo Mayer on IL

The hits keep coming for the Red Sox and I don’t mean the ones tracked in the box score. Mayer is the latest Red Sox’ player to land on the injured list. 

Mayer has a bone stress reaction to the left ulna, an injury he has been dealing with on and off for approximately two months.

“Approaching two months,” Mayer said. “Just been on and off. Some days have been worse than others. But pretty much just had a talk with the medical staff and the doctors and they pretty much said to put a stop to it or it could possibly get worse.”

There’s no timetable for the shortstops’ return. 

“Obviously it’s a bone injury, so kind of just need to let it rest,” Mayer said. “I’m sure we’re going to be testing it week to week. Hopefully not too long. I’m going to do everything in my power to come back and play. But yeah, I think just trusting the medical staff on when that is.”

Mayer’s injury is similar to the one Isiah Kiner-Falefa is dealing with that forced him onto the injured list. 

“We’ve known off and on just some things going on for a little bit,” Chad Tracy said. “But there’s times where if he’s using more volume in the cage, maybe it’s there. Then there’s other times where it wasn’t so bad. ... From our standpoint, as you look at the scan, it’s like, ‘All right, if we keep going, we can make it worse.’”

For Mayer, it’s another injury that has resulted in him spending time on the injured list for the fourth straight season. 

The 23-year-old has had a down season offensively to say the least, hitting a mere .220 in 70 games with three homers and 22 RBI. 

The Calf. native did point out he thinks this injury he’s dealing with is different from the wrist injury suffered last season that resulted in season-ending surgery. 

“I want to be out there playing more than anybody,” Mayer said. “If it was up to me, I would still be playing. Like I said, I’ve been dealing with this for two months, so it’s nothing really new. We just came to the conclusion that if I kept playing it could get worse. So they made that decision for me. Obviously it’s extremely frustrating. I want to be out there every single day playing with my teammates. But yeah, I just gotta do whatever I can to work hard to get back on the field.”

As the Red Sox navigate the next handful of games with Mayer, it begins to seriously raise the question: Is Mayer injury-prone?