The rain pushed back the start time for the Boston Red Sox and Kansas City Royals, but it didn’t spoil the day for starting pitcher Payton Tolle. He opened the game by throwing an immaculate inning in the first inning.
An immaculate inning is when a pitcher strikes out the side on nine pitches. That means nine straight strikes, no foul balls allowed. Tolle was able to do just that against Nick Loftin, Bobby Witt Jr., and Jac Caglianone.
Tolle was able to complete that by leaning on his fastball. Eight of the nine pitches he threw were on the fastball. In fact, the only pitch he threw that wasn’t a straight-up fastball was the seventh pitch of the sequence, or the first pitch to Caglianone, which was a sinker.
In the second inning, Tolle would strike out his fourth batter in a row to open the game. He got Salvador Perez, but did have a couple of balls before getting him. It wasn’t until the fifth batter of the game when he allowed a hit, on a soft infield single.
The Boston Red Sox and Immaculate Innings
It’s hard to undersell just how rare what Payton Tolle did. For the Boston Red Sox, it was just the eighth immaculate inning in the history of the franchise, and the Red Sox have been playing baseball since 1901.
The most recent of those immaculate innings was thrown by Chris Sale back in 2021. Notably, Sale also managed the feat twice in 2019. Other pitchers who managed it for the Red Sox all came in the 21st century. Rick Porcello and Craig Kimbrell both pulled it off in 2017. Clay Buchholz had one in 2012. Then, Pedro Martinez managed one back in 2002.
At one point, the immaculate inning was extraordinarily rare. None were recorded from 1929 to 1952. The first record, however, does go back to 1889, when John Clarkson of the Boston Beaneaters threw one. Prior to the 21st century, only 49 had ever been thrown.
For comparison, there have been 327 no-hitters in MLB history and 18 in Red Sox history. So, it’s harder to find what Tolle did in the first inning on Sunday than a no-hitter. It’s a bit less rare than a perfect game, though, which there is only one in Red Sox history, thrown by Cy Young.
The Red Sox Need to Lean on Payton Tolle
Heading into the final stretch of the season, the Boston Red Sox are looking to continue to battle for seeding in the American League Wild Card race. Perhaps more important than that is going to be hitting the playoffs with momentum, where they’ll likely see the New York Yankees once again.
Throughout the rest of the way, the Red Sox are going to need to rely on their pitching. In particular, arms that can take over and dominate a game, like Payton Tolle.
Coming into play on Sunday, Tolle had a 3.15 ERA with a 1.080 WHIP and 10.4 strikeouts per nine innings. That’s in 24 starts and 137.0 innings pitched so far this season.
Tolle is also coming off joining an impressive group of pitchers his last time out. That is, that he had three or more starts with one or fewer runs, one or fewer walks, and 11 or more strikeouts in their age 23 season or younger. He joined Spencer Strider in 2022, Dwight Gooden in 1984, and Walter Johnson in 1910.
The Red Sox have more experienced pitchers than Tolle. What they don’t have is a pitcher who is currently more dominant. They’ll need him to stay that way as they ride into the playoffs.
Red Sox SP Payton Tolle Throws Immaculate Inning vs. Royals