TORONTO — Red Sox rookie Payton Tolle described his start against the Blue Jays on Tuesday as “a grind.”
“Just didn’t feel like myself, really,” Tolle said. “Thought I was pressing a little too hard on myself. Even Connelly (Early) came in here and said, like, ‘Hey, looks like you’re just beating yourself up.’”
The Red Sox lost 3-0 to Toronto at Rogers Centre. Tolle pitched 4 ⅔ innings, allowing three runs, three hits and four walks while striking out four. He threw 61.8% of his pitches for strikes.
“So definitely felt like I got in my own way today,” Tolle said. “Just gotta try to learn from it and go to the next.”
Tolle’s velocity was down. The 23-year-old lefty averaged 95.0 mph and topped out at 96.2 mph with his 35 four-seam fastballs. That compares to an average of 97.1 mph and a top speed of 99.5 mph when he threw 46 four-seam fastballs last Thursday against the Yankees.
Asked about the velocity drop, interim manager Chad Tracy pointed out how Tolle pitched last Thursday on 10 days of rest and threw 93 pitches.
Tuesday’s start marked the only time in Tolle’s professional career he has pitched on the regular four days in between starts. The Red Sox gave him extended rest throughout his first professional season last year when he earned three different promotions, going from High-A Greenville to the big leagues.
“I mean it was still 95 mostly. It wasn’t like he was soft tossing, but it was just something we were aware of going into the game,” Tracy said.
Tolle added, “It was down. But instead of just taking it for what it was, I kind of got in my own way about it. Started like trying too hard on some pitches. I thought I was trying to make them gross and you just needed to go out there and keep doing what I can with what I’ve got that day.”
“I just gotta be better about my recovery this week,” Tolle said. “I gotta try to get better sleep. But I think it was part of it. I was grinding, a few long at-bats. Just couldn’t quite find the zone there late.”
Toronto took a 2-0 lead in the third inning when Kazuma Okamoto ripped a two-run single off the left field wall. The hit came on a 95.8 mph four-seam fastball from Tolle.
“He threw the ball pretty well,” Tracy said. “The one pitch to Okamoto for two runs and then he started to fatigue there a little bit the last couple hitters, but overall he threw the ball pretty well.”
Tolle retired the first two batters of the fifth inning but then walked both Myles Straw and Ernie Clement. Tracy replaced Tolle with Zack Kelly, who gave up a bloop RBI single to center field to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., making it 3-0.
“That pocket of hitters with Guerrero coming up, we were kind of ready for that anyways,” Tracy said. “And then as you started to watch — the velo was a little down for most of the game anyhow and it started to go a little lower and looked like he was fatigued, so went ahead and made the move."
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