Payton Tolle throws immaculate inning against K.C.

Tolle didn’t look overmatched in his first career postseason start on the road at Yankee Stadium, but he was ultimately outdueled by his New York counterpart Cam Schlitter, who posted 10 strikeouts over 6 1/3 shutout frames. The 23-year-old southpaw did enough to keep the Red Sox within striking distance in the middle innings as an RBI single from Austin Wells with two outs in the third inning accounted for all of the damage against him. He finished with four strikeouts and only issued one walk. He would get the nod for Game 1 of the AL Division Series if the Red Sox find a way to rally in the best-of-three showdown in New York.

Sonny Gray will start Game 2, with Ranger Suarez potentially lined up for Game 3. It seems that Tracy may be looking to break up his lefties. Tolle is certainly a worthwhile Game 1 starter. He finished the regular season with a 3.03 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, and 28.4 percent strikeout rate across 148 2/3 innings. He has never made a start in the postseason before, while Gray has previous experience. Gray also posted a 2.72 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, and 21.8 percent strikeout rate in 169 innings this year. Either way, the Red Sox have a nice duo set up to start the first two games of the series.

It’s unclear how the Red Sox are going to handle the situation since they’re ostensibly locked into the second Wild Card spot heading into the playoffs next week. Patrick Sandoval was scheduled to start Sunday’s season finale and will presumably get the ball on Saturday instead, weather permitting. Jake Bennett, Payton Tolle and Brayan Bello are also in the mix to pitch as well. It’ll be Matthew Boyd and David Peterson most getting the ball for the Cubs during the twin bill with Justin Steele (elbow) in the mix to return from the injured list this weekend. There are a ton of variables that fantasy managers need to monitor with Boston facing inclement weather from roughly Friday evening through Sunday afternoon.

Tolle’s velocity was down by about one mph tonight, but he still did solid work in striking out five and finishing with a 32 percent CSW. He’ll head into the postseason 9-6 with a 3.03 ERA and 171 strikeouts in 148 2/3 innings. It looks like he’ll probably pitch Game 1 against the Yankees next Tuesday.

Tolle draws back into Boston’s rotation after having his previous start against the Rays last weekend pushed back for workload and postseason scheduling reasons. The talented 23-year-old former top prospect is unlikely to work too deep into this outing with the Red Sox having already clinched a playoff spot, but he’s still worth rolling with in nearly all fantasy leagues. This will likely be his final regular-season outing before the Red Sox face the Yankees in the playoffs.

The Red Sox haven’t hid the strong possibility that Tolle wasn’t going to pitch this weekend, but it’s a tough break for fantasy managers hoping for an outing against the Rays during playoff action. There’s still a chance that Tolle starts Sunday’s series finale, but the Boston hasn’t finalized their pitching plans beyond having Brayan Bello start Saturday’s contest.

Bello draws the starting assignment for Saturday’s game against the Rays with Payton Tolle apparently being skipped in the rotation in an effort to manage his workload and set up Boston’s rotation for the postseason. Obviously, Bello has had more success coming out of the bullpen as opposed to being used as a traditional starter. Still, this is a decent spot for fantasy purposes in pitcher-friendly Tropicana Field.

Saturday would be Payton Tolle’s turn, following by Patrick Sandoval on Sunday, but it looks like the Red Sox might be tweaking things. Depending on what they do, they could be aiming to move Tolle ahead of Ranger Suarez as a potential Game 2 starter in their likely Wild Card series.

Tolle hardly seems to care that he’s now 40+ innings over his previous high. His velocity was up about one mph from his season averages today, and he reached double figures in strikeouts for the third time this year. He was actually hit really hard when the Orioles made contact against him; all but one of the nine balls in play he gave up was hard hit and the overall average was 100.3 mph. Still, it resulted in only four hits allowed. Tolle is 9-6 with a 3.15 ERA. He’d have a Rookie of the Year case most seasons, but he’s still behind at least Kevin McGonigle and Parker Messick in the AL this year. He’ll likely face the Royals next weekend.

After entering the fifth with a 3-2 lead, Tolle loaded the bases with no outs on a HBP, a walk and a bunt single versus the bottom-third of the lineup. Randy Arozarena then drilled a game-tying single. At that point, Tolle stepped it up, throwing several of his hardest pitches of the game to strike out two and get Cal Raleigh to fly out on a game-high 98.4-mph fastball to end the threat. Afterwards, Tolle clearly should have been told, “great job, hit the showers, kid.” But the Red Sox brought him back out to give up one more run. The one fastball he threw in the sixth checked in at 95.5 mph. It’s the first time in seven starts that Tolle has allowed more than three runs. He remained 8-6 with a 3.23 ERA. He’ll likely face the Orioles on Sunday.