BOSTON -- When Payton Tolle walked off the mound with two outs in the top of the sixth inning on Tuesday night, it was the perfect opportunity for the Fenway faithful to recognize the power lefty for an outstanding rookie season.
And they did just that, giving Tolle a nice ovation as he exited stage right in Boston’s eventual 3-2 loss to the Guardians.
“Yeah, I think he's won them over pretty significantly,” said Red Sox manager Chad Tracy. “Obviously, he's been awesome this year.”
Next time Tolle pitches, the noise is likely to be even louder, and not nearly as favorable.
Look for Tolle to be a key part of Boston’s rotation -- perhaps even the Game 1 starter -- during next week’s AL Wild Card Series, which is all but certain to be played at Yankee Stadium.
The Red Sox will have no hesitation sending out the confident, charismatic 23-year-old into enemy territory.
“I'm excited,” said Tolle said. “Whatever is going to come, will come, and I think I'll keep going back to how far we've come. I'll go back to June. What were we thinking when we were sitting in the same room here? I'm really proud of this group. This has been incredible. I had so much fun, obviously, with these guys. And just to continue to go into the postseason with them, and I'm really excited about us.”
While this was far from the best (5 2/3 innings, 8 hits, 2 ER, 2 BBs, 5 K’s) of Tolle’s 26 regular-season starts, it was more than enough to keep the Red Sox in the game.
Tracy confirmed that Tolle won’t pitch again in the regular season, only increasing speculation that he will get the nod in Game 1 against New York's Cam Schilittler, a leading contender to win the AL Cy Young Award.
Tolle’s final stat line includes this: A 3.03 ERA, 171 strikeouts, 40 walks, 1.10 WHIP and a .222 opponents batting average.
Here are some other takeaways from Tuesday’s game, which dropped the Red Sox to 84-73:
1) Adley gets hot
Sox catcher Adley Rutschman entered the night struggling. He had a .584 OPS in his previous 11 games that came on the heels of his return to Baltimore on Sept. 3, when he belted two homers. In this one, he went 3-for-4 with two doubles. His one out was a well-struck flyout to center.
It was particularly encouraging to see him get the two doubles from the right side of the plate.
Since joining the Red Sox, Rutschman is 4-for-29 as a right-handed hitter, including a .345 OPS.
‘Being a switch hitter has a lot that goes into it, and you go through phases where you're hitting good [from] one side and not the other and it flip flops sometimes and then goes back,” Rutschman said. “I want to be in a good spot, especially with the playoffs coming up.”
2) Mick for the tie
Mickey Gasper's stunning power tear at the plate had dipped recently, if only because his playing time has gone down. But Gasper served a reminder of how valuable he can be in the postseason when he belted a game-tying pinch-hit homer to right in the bottom of the eighth inning. It was the first pinch-hit homer of Gasper’s career.
He has 10 homers and a 1.152 OPS in his last 78 at-bats, going back to Aug. 17.
“He's been doing that for a large chunk of the last month and a half,” Tracy said. “We’re looking for lanes to get him at-bats against right-handed pitching to keep him sharp. That was another big swing, obviously in a huge moment.”
3) Miller’s slump continues
Lefty reliever Erik Miller caught fire when he joined the Red Sox in an Aug. 3 trade with the Giants. He didn't allow a run in his first 10 appearances with his new team, but things have gone in the opposite direction of late. Miller has allowed at least one run in his last four outings, and in five of his last eight, posting an 8.59 ERA. With postseason roster decisions upcoming, Miller wants to finish strong. He mentioned a tick in his delivery that he’s trying to fix but didn’t get specific.
He was, however, candid about his level of frustration.
“[My patience is] definitely running thin at this point,” Miller said. “I'd be lying if I said otherwise. I think the whole point when you're a reliever is you try to minimize the blips, and then you try to ride out when you're kind of on a heater. And I would like to kind of have been through this by now, like even be over it.”