BALTIMORE -- Payton Tolle's push to the finish line of his strong rookie season added more entertainment on Sunday afternoon in the form of an in-game push-up.
In the third inning, while facing Pete Alonso, Tolle fell down at the end of his windup on a 1-2 pitch. While on the ground, he pushed himself right back up like he was in high school gym class.
Meanwhile, from the mound, Tolle shoved against the Orioles, helping the Red Sox complete a four-game sweep of the Orioles with a 3-1 victory at Camden Yards.
The moment of levity with the push-up came just one start after Tolle hugged Seattle’s Dominic Canzone while he was in the middle of tagging him out on the first-base line.
There is never a dull moment for the 23-year-old, who spent another day of his season laughing, making demonstrative gestures and, oh yeah, setting opposing hitters down with relative ease.
Over six innings, Tolle (9-6, 3.15 ERA) allowed four hits and a run, walking none and striking out 12 batters. He generated 17 whiffs out of Baltimore’s 54 swings. Perhaps most impressively, 70 of Tolle’s 91 pitches were strikes.
If Tolle’s powerful performance wasn’t enough, closer Aroldis Chapman finished off the Orioles with his 400th career save, making him the ninth pitcher in history to achieve that milestone.
Eli White provided all the offense the Red Sox wound up needing with one swing, when he mashed a three-run homer to left-center in the second. The O’s created that opportunity when shortstop Gunnar Henderson made an error on a Caleb Durbin grounder.
White mauled a 1-0 slider (middle-middle) by O’s starter Kyle Bradish and hit it a Statcast-projected 384 feet.
Acquired at the Aug. 3 Trade Deadline, White started all four games of the sweep in center in place of Ceddanne Rafaela (right quadriceps strain, 10-day injured list) and had important hits in three of the four contests.