Red Sox’ Chad Tracy explains why he pulled Payton Tolle at 85 pitches for Justin Slaten in Friday loss
· Yahoo Sports
BOSTON — Red Sox starter Payton Tolle was at just 85 pitches and had retired 11 batters in a row when interim manager Chad Tracy pulled him in favor of reliever Justin Slaten after six innings Friday night. Despite the move backfiring, Tracy said it was “not much” of a decision to take Tolle out.
Tolle left the game with Boston leading, 6-3, after padding a four-run first inning with a two-run mini-rally in the fourth inning. Slaten, who had allowed just one unearned run on four hits in his first eight innings of the season, came in and blew the game. He allowed Luke Keaschall to reach on a leadoff single before Byron Buxton hit a no-doubt homer over the Green Monster to make it a one-run game. Two batters later, Austin Martin took aim at the Monster seats and gave the Twins a 7-6 lead in a game they’d win by two runs.
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Slaten’s meltdown marked the second time the Red Sox have lost a game they led after six innings all season. Thanks to Slaten, setup man Garrett Whitlock and closer Aroldis Chapman, they’re 16-2 in such affairs.
“At some point, there’s gonna be a crack in there,” Tracy said. “That’s part of it. They’ve been lights out.”
Tolle’s unusual outing included five strong, efficient innings — and a treacherous second inning in which he allowed all of the runs (three) and hits (four) that went on his final line. He faced all nine Twins hitters and threw 33 pitches in that inning while needing just 52 pitches to get the other 15 outs. Including two outs to strand the bases loaded in the second, the rookie lefty retired 14 of the final 15 batters he had faced.
With Boston’s bullpen well-rested after a day off Thursday, Tracy saw a lane for the Slaten-Whitlock-Chapman trio to shut down a game the Red Sox led by two. Slaten began warming as soon as Tolle escaped the sixth with Keaschall, the No. 8 hitter, due up.
“Not much (of a decision) just because there were periods there where we were like, ‘Let’s hope he gets through five,’” Tracy said. “Once he gets through six, you’ve got Slate, Whit and Chap lined up with the lineup about to turn over a fourth time because of the amount of hitters he faced.
“Obviously, it didn’t go the way we wanted it to but I feel like it was pretty clear cut we were gonna go there.”
Tolle, after starting the season with three shorter outings at Triple-A Worcester, has been pushed in six major league starts since making his season debut April 23. He went eight innings in his last start Saturday in Atlanta, throwing 85 pitches in that efficient outing.
Entering the night, hitters were just 1-for-21 (.048) facing Tolle for the third time in a game this season. He had faced just one hitter four times in a game.
“He was mid-80s, so maybe a little breathing room,” Tracy said. “But they batted around on him once. Some of the other outings, they were fighting to get through a third time. At this point, they were going to go a fourth time and he, at that point, had done his job.”
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