Payton Tolle’s Major League debut was one to remember.
The hard-throwing left-hander fanned eight over 5 1/3 sharp innings Friday night, electrifying the Fenway faithful and offering fans a glimpse into the future.
Greg Weissert allowed back-to-back doubles, and both runs were charged to Tolle in an eventual 4-2 loss to the Pirates, yet it was still a largely promising opening act for the highly regarded rookie.
Here are five stats to contextualize Tolle’s outing:
Strikeout king
Tolle became the first Red Sox pitcher to record eight-plus strikeouts in his MLB debut since Daisuke Matsuzaka punched out 10 in April 2007.
He struck out two in the first (including the first batter he faced), two in the second, and two in the fifth to highlight a strong all-around showing.
Payton Tolle