Contreras 426-foot – Payton Tolle delivered a career-high eight innings, and Willson Contreras hit a 426-foot, two-run homer in the eighth to lift the Boston Red Sox to a 3-2 win over the Atlanta Braves after the night before’s 3-2 extra-inning loss.
The Red Sox came into Saturday night still smarting from the bruising 3-2 extra-inning defeat the night before. and the start against the Braves offered little relief.. Their opener from Payton Tolle looked shaky from the first batter: Atlanta designated hitter Drake Baldwin sent the second pitch of the game into the stands for a leadoff home run.
For all the early trouble, the damage didn’t keep spreading.. Tolle limited the damage to that first-inning flaw and settled in behind efficient work over eight frames.. The 23-year-old left-hander finished with a career-high eight strong innings. allowing two earned runs. four hits. one walk. and striking out three while collecting six swing-and-misses.. He threw 85 pitches. with 60 strikes. and set himself up to try for a complete game—though closer Aroldis Chapman took the ninth and recorded the save.
Interim manager Chad Tracy said he didn’t really consider keeping Tolle for the final inning. and Tolle echoed that he wasn’t bothered by the decision. saying he has full trust in Chapman.. After the game. Tolle called the outing “a lot of fun. ” adding that he enjoyed getting to go out there and let the defense handle what comes next.
The turning points came from both sides—one inning’s misstep, another’s timing.. Boston tied it 1-1 in the fourth on a Masataka Yoshida sacrifice fly. but Baldwin answered with a RBI knock in the fifth to put Atlanta back ahead.. Then the seventh inning threatened to swing the other way: Ceddanne Rafaela led off the seventh with a double. only for Boston to go 1-2-3 and leave him stranded at second base.
The comeback finally found its punctuation in the eighth. With two outs and a 1-2 count, Willson Contreras unloaded a 426-foot, two-run home run to deep left field off Braves starter Bryce Elder. It was Elder’s 100th pitch of the game, and the blast gave Boston a 3-2 lead.
Contreras. now up to nine home runs this season. said he was happy to put the team on his back and be the reason they evened up the weekend series.. “It feels great.. It feels great to be able to help the team. ” he told NESN’s Jahmai Webster on the field after the game.. He added, “We know that we are trying to play better baseball, we’re trying to have better at-bats.. I’m adjusting again to the four-hole.. It’s not easy. but I come here every single day to play baseball. to play for the guys. and tonight we played for each other.”
Tracy made clear just how quickly Contreras changed the feel of the game. He called the homer “Huge,” saying Contreras is “our guy”—the presence in the middle of the order who can deliver “instant damage” with one swing and “changed the dugout in a hurry.”
In the ninth, Chapman faced a bases-loaded situation with two outs, but he managed to get the save anyway after taking a comebacker off his cleat. The ball knocked him to the ground, yet he still flipped it to first base in time. Chapman said he is fine.
Saturday’s win also carried a specific milestone: it marked the Red Sox’ first comeback win trailing after seven innings in 2026.. For a team that has struggled to come up with clutch hits this season. Contreras delivering one against the best team in MLB mattered more than it might on a scoreboard alone.
The pattern of the game was stark: the only real early damage came when Baldwin homered off Tolle’s second pitch, Boston answered later to tie things, and then the result flipped in the eighth when Contreras took Elder deep after the Red Sox stranded a runner at second in the seventh.
Boston will try to carry that momentum into the series finale. Sunday’s rubber match is scheduled for 1:35 p.m. Eastern Time, with Brayan Bello facing Grant Holmes.
Boston Red Sox Atlanta Braves Payton Tolle Willson Contreras Aroldis Chapman Drake Baldwin Masataka Yoshida Bryce Elder Ceddanne Rafaela