Payton Tolle shines in debut as Red Sox fall to Pirates

Payton Tolle made a memorable major league debut Friday night at Fenway Park, striking out eight over 5 1/3 innings in a pitchers duel with Pittsburgh ace Paul Skenes, but the Boston Red Sox fell 4-2 as the Pittsburgh bullpen rallied late. The start came in the same afternoon the Red Sox promoted Tolle and released Walker Buehler to open a roster spot, and it put a bright new face into Boston's rotation in the thick of a pennant race.

Tolle, a 22-year-old left-hander who rocketed from High A to the majors this season, retired 13 of 14 batters between the second and the sixth and carried a one-run lead into the sixth inning. He allowed two runs on three hits and two walks while throwing 84 pitches, 53 for strikes, and reached 99.2 mph on his heater. Boston fans gave him a standing ovation when manager Alex Cora came to the mound to remove him after back-to-back singles with one out in the sixth. Reliever Greg Weissert allowed those inherited runners to score and then yielded two doubles that gave Pittsburgh the lead.

Skenes worked six strong innings for the Pirates, allowing one earned run on seven hits with six strikeouts and earning the victory. Dennis Santana recorded the...