Payton Tolle ‘fantastic’ again for Red Sox, but in different way: ‘I used all (my strikeouts) up last time’

TORONTO — Payton Tolle has been called a lot of things since making his major league debut nearly one year ago. Overpowering. Gregarious. Passionate. Electric.

A new word he can add to the list after Thursday’s outing in Toronto? Versatile.

Six days after bullying the Athletics into 14 strikeouts in six innings at Fenway Park on Friday night, Tolle dominated the Blue Jays in a different way Thursday. He induced soft contact, got quick outs, kept an aggressive lineup off balance and needed just 91 pitches to go eight shutout innings in a 7-0 Red Sox win.

Tolle didn’t have a strikeout until the sixth and finished with just four of them, tied for his third-lowest total all year. He got just six swings and misses after getting a Red Sox season-high 24 of them Friday. The lefty was shaky early, then settled in and cruised, retiring the final 17 batters he faced.

All of it amounted to a big Red Sox win to snap a five-game losing streak and avoid an in-division sweep.

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“Lot of early-count swings, lot of weak contact,” said interim manager Chad Tracy. “Had the fastball, got in on the hands quite a bit. We needed a deep start and we got a great, deep start.”

In his second year of major league action, Tolle has shown an ability to overpower, like he did while flashing 99 mph against the A’s and in his first start of the season, when he electrified Fenway with 11 strikeouts in six innings against the Yankees on August 7. There have been other times where he has found other ways to get outs. On May 16 in Atlanta, he had a start similar to Thursday’s, going eight efficient innings with only three Ks. On June 27 against New York, he had diminished velocity due to illness but still tossed seven scoreless innings with a more complete arsenal. All of it points to the growth of an uber-talented 23-year-old who has gone from hard thrower to complete pitcher in a year’s time.

“A-year-ago-Payton was a completely different pitcher than now. I’ve learned a lot of things,” Tolle said. “You’re going to have to go through it to learn them.

“You go throughout a game and you take what they give you.”

With the Jays on the verge of a sweep after close wins in the first three games of the series, it looked like Toronto would once again get an early lead when Tolle came out shaky in the first. The timing of his delivery was off, he said, causing a leadoff walk to Charles McAdoo and a one-out single to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. After getting out of that jam, Tolle allowed the leadoff men in each of the next two innings to reach.

Aided by two 5-4-3 double plays started by third baseman Caleb Durbin, Tolle was able to settle in fast. He then pitched 5 ⅔ perfect innings to finish his start. Toronto hit just two balls harder than 95.1 mph off him.

“Sometimes he’s very effective in the zone and some of those weak outs are just foul balls and that drags the pitch count up, maybe,” said Tracy. “Today, they happened to be well-located pitches he was able to get off the barrel and get early-count, weak outs.

“He’s evolved as a pitcher. From his first year last year when he was in Double-A and working his way up, it was mostly all fastball. Now, you watch the arsenal, and not just that but his ability to command the pitches and get him to spots that he wants.”

In the middle part of the game, it seemed like Tolle’s Greg Maddux-esque performance might lead to Boston’s first complete game shutout since Garrett Crochet mowed down the Rays last July. Instead, after Boston opened up a big lead late, Tracy turned to Greg Weissert and shook Tolle’s hand after the eighth.

“If I would have given it (the ninth) to him, he would have taken it,” Tracy said. “Gave me a hug and I said, ‘Good job.’ He said, ‘I was tired.’”

Tolle, since being called up after a one-month cameo in Triple-A to start the season, has logged a 2.97 ERA and 128 strikeouts in 115 innings over 20 starts. He recently passed his career-high in innings but has showed no signs of slowing down in the dog days of August.

“He’s fantastic,” said Tracy. “He’s been really good and we’re gonna need him to keep doing that down the stretch.”

With his dazzling pitch mix, Tolle has the ability to post big strikeout numbers in every start. On Thursday, though, he was happy to get outs in a much different way than he did last against the A’s.

“I just used them all up last time,” he laughed. “It’s just part of the learning of it and having the game tells you what needs to happen.”

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