Tolle's Perfect Bid
Payton Tolle Dominates Yankees with Near No-Hitter as Red Sox Secure 6-1 Victory
Key Points
Spencer Jones broke up Payton Tolle's bid for a perfect game with a one-out single in the sixth inning.
Tsung-Che Cheng recorded his first major-league hit and first RBI with a second-inning double.
Through five perfect innings, Tolle retired 15 consecutive batters on 51 pitches before allowing a hit, contributing to a dominant start.
Tolle generated 11 swings-and-misses across his repertoire, with four whiffs on the four-seam fastball, four on the cutter, and three on the curve.
Payton Tolle was sick in bed Friday morning. By Friday night, the 23-year-old Red Sox rookie had carried a perfect game into the sixth inning and shut down the Yankees over seven scoreless innings in a 6-1 Boston win at Fenway Park. Fueled by DayQuil and vitamins, Tolle allowed just one hit, walked two, and struck out seven on 88 pitches, according to MLB.com.
The win gives Boston a 2-0 edge in the four-game series against the division-leading Yankees. "I woke up this morning and said 'I don't feel great, but I'm going to pitch today,'" Tolle told reporters after the game, per Associated Press. "There were a couple of times where I was like 'Do I tell anybody? Or should I push through this?'" He pushed through.
Tolle Retires 16 Straight Before Jones Breaks Spell
Tolle was locked in from pitch one. He needed just nine pitches to get through the first inning. In the second, he came within one strike of an immaculate inning — striking out Jasson Domínguez, José Caballero, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. on 10 total pitches, according to Boston Sports Journal. Through five innings, he had retired 15 straight batters on just 51 pitches.
The perfect game ended with one out in the sixth. Spencer Jones lined a single into the outfield, snapping Tolle's bid after 16 consecutive retired batters. Tolle finished the seventh, working around two walks, and left to a standing ovation from 33,353 fans at Fenway. He generated 11 total swings-and-misses — four on his four-seam fastball, four on his cutter, and three on his curveball — per Baseball Savant.
A 'Flu Game' Debut for Boston's Youngest Shutout Ace Since 2016
Tolle arrived at Fenway around 6:30 PM, still fighting a fever he had been nursing since Thursday. He did not tell the Red Sox training staff he was ill until after the final out, fearing he would be scratched, according to Associated Press. Manager Alex Cora praised the rookie's maturity, calling the decision to take the ball a sign of rare mental toughness.
Boston media quickly drew comparisons to Michael Jordan's famous 1997 NBA Finals "Flu Game," per MLB.com. Tolle became the youngest Red Sox pitcher to throw at least seven shutout innings with one or fewer hits since Eduardo Rodríguez did it on September 16, 2016, according to Boston Sports Journal. His velocity averaged 94.5 mph — nearly 3 mph below his usual range — yet his command of the cutter and sweeping curve was described as elite by analysts.
Yankees Offense Silenced as Warren Records Zero Strikeouts
While Tolle dominated, Yankees starter Will Warren had his worst outing of 2026. Warren allowed five earned runs over 5.2 innings and recorded zero strikeouts, per Bronx Pinstripes. That made the contrast stark: a sick 23-year-old rookie threw seven shutout innings while the opposing starter couldn't record a single punchout.
The game also featured a bench-clearing incident in the fifth inning. Willson Contreras homered 418 feet for his 17th home run of the season, then got into a dispute with Warren. Yankees first baseman Paul Goldschmidt stepped in to intervene, and both bullpens emptied. Order was restored without ejections, per Associated Press.
Cheng's 407-Foot Double Marks a Milestone on Multiple Fronts
The game had a subplot beyond Tolle. Tsung-Che Cheng, a Taiwan native recalled from Triple-A Worcester earlier Friday to replace the injured Marcelo Mayer, recorded his first MLB hit in the second inning — a 407-foot double that also drove in his first career RBI, according to CBS Sports. CNA, Taiwan's Central News Agency, noted the hit would have cleared the wall in 14 of 30 MLB ballparks.
In two starts against New York this season, Tolle now has 18 strikeouts and a 0.54 WHIP, per sports.yahoo.com. On the season, he improved to 4-5 with a 3.39 ERA and 88 strikeouts. For a Red Sox team chasing a Wild Card spot, a healthy — or even a sick — Tolle looks like exactly the kind of rotation piece Boston needs heading into the second half.
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