The Boston Red Sox have ground to make up in the American League standings, but a strong pitching performance can go a long way toward closing that gap. Payton Tolle (1-1, 2.04 ERA) takes the mound Saturday afternoon as the Red Sox continue a four-game set against the visiting Tampa Bay Rays.
Tolle returns after left-hander Connelly Early tossed a career-high seven shutout innings, with Garrett Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman closing the door in a 2-0 win Friday night that evened the series. That shutout marked Boston’s MLB-leading sixth of the season.
“It’s easy (to push a young starter seven innings deep) when they’re pitching that way,” said Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy of the 24-year-old Early.
Tolle also worked seven innings in his last start, limiting the Detroit Tigers to two unearned runs on one hit while striking out eight en route to his first MLB win on Monday, 5-4. His only Fenway Park start this season was equally impressive—six innings, one run allowed, 11 strikeouts against the New York Yankees on April 23. Saturday will mark his first career start against the Rays, though he faced them once in relief last season, allowing one run and two hits over one inning on Sept. 21.
Boston managed just four hits Friday, but two were solo homers—one from Wilyer Abreu and one from Ceddanne Rafaela. “(The Rays) only had four, too,” Tracy said. “That’s gonna happen, but you’re pitching well and a couple balls go over the fence. You’ve gotta win that way sometimes as well.”
The win was Boston’s fourth in five games, tying them with Baltimore for fourth place in the AL East. “Like I said early in the year, it’s just a matter of time for everybody to get back to the rhythm and the timing,” Abreu said. “The results are coming. Everybody can see it.”
The Rays are looking to bounce back from a rare recent setback. Friday’s loss snapped a seven-game winning streak and was only their second defeat in 15 games. They had been 7-0 against AL East opponents. “We get to lean on each other. It’s not just one person,” outfielder Chandler Simpson said after Thursday’s 8-4 win. “We know we have Junior (Caminero), who can be Superman. Yandy (Diaz) can be Superman.”
Friday night, however, lacked that spark. Nick Fortes had two of Tampa Bay’s four hits, but the offense recorded no extra-base hits and failed to score after loading the bases with no outs in the third inning against Early. Still, the Rays have gone a franchise-record 15 consecutive games without allowing more than three earned runs.
To keep that streak alive, an injury-thinned rotation turns to Nick Martinez (3-1, 1.71 ERA), who has won three straight starts, allowing just two runs in 20 innings. In his most recent outing, the veteran right-hander pitched five innings of one-run ball with four strikeouts in a 5-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday.
“I just like the way he uses all pitches (in) all counts,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “He dropped in some curveballs and changeups below the zone, got some fastballs, ran some sinkers in. It’s a pretty steady mix.”
Martinez holds a 1-3 record and 5.80 ERA in nine career appearances (five starts) against the Red Sox, including a win last July 2.
