Payton Tolle took a perfect game into the sixth before coughing up the Yankees’ only hit, finishing with seven scoreless innings, seven strikeouts, and a 6-1 Red Sox win that pushed Boston to a 2-0 lead in the series at Fenway Park.
When Payton Tolle walked off the mound at Fenway Park on Friday, the stands answered with a standing ovation. Not a polite one. A full-body, end-of-the-night kind of roar, earned after the young starter carried a perfect game that deep into the afternoon.
Tolle tossed seven scoreless innings against the Yankees, striking out seven and allowing just one hit. He watched his no-hit and perfect game bid run all the way into the sixth inning before the first—his only—hit finally landed.
After the game, Tolle didn’t dress up what was going on in his head. He said he was thinking about the history that comes with no-hitters and perfect games long before the final frame. “I was definitely thinking about it in that fifth,” he said. “Whoever says whenever they throw a no-hitter or perfect game and they’re like ‘I didn’t think about it until the ninth’. that’s a load of bull crap. They’re absolutely thinking about it.”.
The remarkable outing had a quieter undertone, too. Tolle admitted that he was battling an illness heading into the start. “Just got. this morning and a little bit yesterday. just got a body ache. fever. head felt fine … but I laid in bed for a long time this morning. ” he told reporters. “Got here. got some DayQuil in me. [but] I think that’s why I hit a wall so hard in the seventh. Just not sleeping great.”.
That seventh-inning fatigue didn’t change what mattered most: he still finished with seven scoreless, and Boston still won 6-1. Thanks to the effort, the Red Sox are up 2-0 in their four-game series against the Yankees at Fenway Park.
What makes the day land even harder for New York is how dominant Tolle’s been against them in particular. Across two starts this year versus the Yankees, he has thrown 18 strikeouts and allowed one run and four hits.
Tolle’s season has been building toward this kind of control. He has a 2.78 ERA across 12 starts, and Friday’s win was another step toward claiming a long-term role in Boston’s starting rotation. His pitching arsenal may not be vast yet, but the pitches he does use have been consistently effective.
He framed the rivalry in simple terms—fun, even when the stakes rise. “It’s one of the best rivalries in sports. No matter what’s going on with the season this is still a great series,” Tolle said. “Was able to go out there and have a lot of fun with it.”
The next chapters of the series move quickly. Jake Bennett gets the bump on Saturday afternoon, and Sonny Gray is slated for Sunday Night Baseball on NBC.
Payton Tolle Red Sox Yankees Fenway Park MLB no-hitter perfect game seven scoreless innings Jake Bennett Sonny Gray series
DayQuil huh, so like… did the medicine mess him up or help him lol
Standing ovation for throwing 7 scoreless… okay but Yankees always choke at Fenway. Not shocking. Also I saw somewhere it was 7 innings total? Feels like people calling it a perfect game forever.
Man the article says he got an illness and took DayQuil, then hit a wall in the seventh. So the whole “perfect game into the sixth” thing is basically just luck and medicine timing? Like if he didn’t have fever he woulda got 9, right? I dunno.
I swear these games are always like this at Fenway. Red Sox fans go nuts for one good starter and then act like it’s destiny. 6-1 and up 2-0 sounds huge but baseball is weird, Yankees will “figure it out” next game probably. Also that quote about thinking about no-hitters “bull crap” like dude relax