Yankees' Aaron Boone aware of how tough Red Sox's Payton Tolle can be

NEW YORK -- The Boston Red Sox are giving left-hander Payton Tolle the nod to pitch Game 1 of the American League Wild Card Series against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium.   

And why not? 

Tolle, 23, gave New York fits in two starts during the regular season. He relies on five pitches — four–seamer, sinker, cutter, curveball and changeup — and Yankee hitters couldn't touch any of them, going 4-for-43 (.093) with one homer and 18 strikeouts. 

It will be interesting to see if the Yankees add sluggers Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton to the roster to face Tolle. Both players are right-handed hitters, but are dealing with calf injuries. 

“He is another outstanding pitcher in this league,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said to reporters. “He has a great four-seam fastball. He has a competitive presence. We talk about Cam (Schlitter) a lot. I don’t know (Tolle), but he seems to have a good level of confidence, but also has a lot of fun out there. He is not stressing out about it. He has a great fastball that he is able to command. He works his breaking ball off of that. But he seems to have a really good presence to him.”       

In 26 games for Boston, Tolle went 9-6 with a 3.03 ERA and 171 strikeouts in 148 ⅔ innings. One can understand why Red Sox manager Chad Tracy has confidence him.  

“We are pretty confident who he is as a pitcher and what he brings to the table regardless of who he is facing,” Tracy told reporters. “I know his age. I know he is a rookie, but the way he approaches baseball and big moments, that part won’t bother him. He is a pretty big personality that has been through a lot. He doesn’t take things too seriously. He is just going to pitch his game regardless of who it is.”      

The way he was talking on Monday, Tolle is ready to pitch under the lights at Yankee Stadium.

“It’s what you play for, especially just for the magnitude of the game, he said. "We play under the light. It’s going to be a lot of fun. I’m proud of the work that has been put in to get here by all these guys. To be in this spot now, we’ve gone through a lot and I’m just super excited to get out there tomorrow."

This is not Tolle’s first go-round in the postseason. Last year, he pitched ⅓ of an inning in last year’s wild-card series. He was able to induce Trent Grisham to ground out to end the eighth inning in a 4-3 loss in Game 2.

“It was a great experience, just going out there walking to the pen last year, you … get to hear how loud it gets,” Tolle said. 

After Tolle pitches in Game 1, right-hander Sony Gray will start Game 2. If the series extends to a third game, Ranger Suárez will get the start.   

All quotations obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.