Red Sox lose 4-2 in Excellent Payton Tolle Debut

Boston Red Sox Lose to Pittsburgh Pirates 4-2 in Payton Tolle's Debut Friday at Fenway Park

Photo by Brian Fluharty/Getty Images

August 31, 2025

The Boston Red Sox can’t capture late-inning magic after an excellent start by Payton Tolle in his MLB debut and lose to the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-2 Friday at Fenway Park.

Notable Don Frye lookalike Payton Tolle made his major league debut on the bump against Paul Skenes. Tolle gave a more than respectable effort competing against the NL Cy Young award contender. Unfortunately, most of the lineup couldn’t capitalize on the rookie’s strong performance.

Red Sox – Pirates Game Summary

Scoring began in the fourth inning, where after two innings of threatening, the Sox finally capitalized. An error from Isiah Kiner-Falefa at third scored Masataka Yoshida to give the Sox a 1-0 lead. Roman Anthony added on with a fifth-inning leadoff home run. Tolle allowed back-to-back singles before being removed in the sixth inning. Greg Weissert came in and allowed back-to-back doubles to Tommy Pham and Andrew McCutchen to give the Pirates a 3-2 lead. After striking out three times, Henry Davis reached on a bunt that allowed a run to score in the eighth inning.

What Went Right for the Red Sox

Red Sox Top Prospect Tolle Strong in Debut

Despite some trouble in a few innings, Tolle persevered and kept Pittsburgh scoreless while in the game. Tolle escaped an early jam in the second inning with runners on second and third with no outs. Tolle’s final line: 5 1/3 innings pitched, three hits, two walks, two earned runs that scored after he was removed, and eight strikeouts. This was the most strikeouts by a debuting Red Sox pitcher since Daisuke Matsuzaka in 2007.

Bottom Half Performance

The bottom half of the Sox lineup showed up. Six of nine Boston hits came from numbers 5-9 in the lineup. Romy Gonzalez is the second player ever to have a three-hit game against Paul Skenes.

Defense Played Their Hearts Out

The Red Sox defense showed up today. Several nice plays were made out in the field, specifically from Nick Sogard and Alex Bregman.

What Went Wrong for the Red Sox

Wasting Starter’s Efforts

Despite a solid showing from a debuting Tolle, Weissert blew the lead in an instant. Jordan Hicks also allowed the Pirates to gain insurance, which seemingly took the fight out of the Sox offense.

Top Half Underwhelming

Sox fans should expect more from Anthony, Bregman, Trevor Story, and Jarren Duran. 1-4 in the batting order hit a combined 3-for-16 in this contest.

Sox Burned Their Pen

The Red Sox used a lot of guys out of the bullpen. Five separate arms were used after Tolle was removed in the sixth. Not all of them performed at their best. It would’ve been appropriate to utilize Walker Buehler, had the Sox not released him prior to this game.

Looking Ahead

Boston has two more games to get their lick back on the Pirates. Their next contest on Saturday at Fenway Park starts at 4:10 pm Eastern. Dustin May (7-11, 5.01 ERA (83 ERA+), 1.415 WHIP, 8.5 K/9) is the scheduled starter for the game, projected to go against Johan Oviedo (2-0, 3.60 ERA (121 ERA+), 1.200 WHIP, 12.0 K/9) for the Pirates.