Boston Red Sox rookie reaches 99.7 mph, ‘cut it loose’ in first relief outing

BOSTON — The radar gun at Fenway Park flashed 100 mph when Red Sox 22-year-old lefty Payton Tolle struck out AL Rookie of the Year front-runner Nick Kurtz swinging to end the fifth inning.

“I saw it. I was like, ‘Oh, man, I sure hope that stays 100, doesn’t roll down to 99,’” Tolle said.

Unfortunately for Tolle, the fastball clocked at 99.7 mph on Statcast, falling just shy of triple digits. Fortunately for the Red Sox, though, Tolle showed promise in his first big-league relief appearance.

The Red Sox lost 5-3 to the Athletics on Thursday to drop the three-game series, 2-1. Starter Brayan Bello lasted only four innings; the offense struggled; Trevor Story committed two errors; and Boston’s lead over Cleveland for the final wild-card spot dropped to 1½ games.

Tolle’s outing was arguably the lone bright spot. The rookie allowed one unearned run, three hits and no walks while striking out four in three innings.

“Aggressive with the fastball,” manager Alex Cora said. “Threw strikes with the offspeed pitches. Was in command. That was good to see.”

The Red Sox announced Wednesday that Tolle will pitch out of the bullpen for the rest of this season. Cora and team decision-makers need to figure out the best role for him. Is he best used as a multi-inning reliever or a one-inning power reliever?

Seven of the eight four-seam fastballs he threw in his first inning of work were harder than 98 mph. The other was 97.4 mph. His fastball velocity dipped into the 95-97 mph range in his second inning.

The Red Sox made it a point in the offseason to add velocity to their bullpen. They are tied for fifth in the major leagues in average fastball velocity among relievers (95.3 mph). That’s up from 94.2 mph (20th in the league) last year.

Tolle is another option to provide hard, swing-and-miss stuff when the Red Sox need strikeouts late in games.

“We have to make sure now, OK, that was cool and he did an amazing job but where he fits,” Cora said. “The first inning was electric. The second was OK and the velo dipped down. So we’ll talk about it and see what’s next for him.”

Tolle pitched mostly in the low-90s at TCU, but the Red Sox worked with him to increase velocity after drafting him in the second round in July 2024.

“That’s something that I’ve kind of worked on all year, is trying to get velo early (in games),” he said. “Instead of hitting those PRs (personal records) the third, fourth, fifth innings, we want to hit those PRs in the first inning. And that’s what is going to help drive that intensity for the whole game. So I think maintaining velo’s great. But there’s no reason to hold anything back early.”

Tolle said pitching out of the bullpen was different.

“I feel like did a good job of preparing well down there. Holty (bullpen coach Chris Holt) had a good plan for me. So stayed loose and then was just able to go out there and cut it loose. I think the biggest thing is I just was able to kind of turn off the brain and just pitch. It was good and good to finally get it under my belt.”