The Red Sox desperately needed someone to stop the bleeding Thursday afternoon.
One start after overpowering the Athletics with a career-high 14 strikeouts, rookie Payton Tolle was the stopper the Red Sox needed Thursday, dominating the Blue Jays lineup with eight shutout innings.
Caleb Durbin finally gave him some breathing room, blowing open a one-run game with a grand slam in the eighth to send Boston to a 7-0 win over the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.
The victory snapped Boston’s five-game losing streak and prevented its first four-game sweep since mid-June, which also came against Toronto. The Red Sox improved to 65-56 and recorded their 12th shutout of the season.
After generating 24 swings and misses in his previous start, Tolle managed only six Thursday. He didn’t record his first strikeout until the sixth inning.
The left-hander allowed just two hits and two walks over eight innings, needing only 91 pitches as he bullied the Blue Jays' lineup. He retired the final 17 batters he faced and 21 of the last 23.
It was the complete opposite of the overpowering performance he delivered six days earlier, but every bit as effective.
“We needed a deep start,” interim manager Chad Tracy told reporters. “He’s fantastic.”
Tolle wasn’t quite as sharp initially. His velocity was down a couple of ticks in the first inning, and three of the first six Blue Jays he faced reached base on two walks and a single.
A pair of 5-4-3 double plays started by Durbin helped Tolle through the second and third innings, and from there, Toronto essentially stopped reaching base.