NEW YORK — Payton Tolle’s performance during a mid-August game in Toronto stands out in the mind of Garrett Crochet.
Tolle, the Boston Red Sox rookie, was stifling the Blue Jays’ lineup that day and surrendered just two hits over eight innings. He’d tossed 91 pitches and a complete game was in play, but with the Red Sox holding a 7-0 lead, manager Chad Tracy opted to remove Tolle ahead of the ninth.
Crochet, the Boston ace who was injured at the time, wishes that hadn’t happened.
“I really wanted to see him get the CG,” Crochet said.
Crochet reflected on Tolle's season while standing in front of his locker inside the visitors' clubhouse at Yankee Stadium on Monday. He admires his 23-year-old teammate’s ability to throw strikes and routinely pitch deeper into games.
“He just positions himself well every start,” said Crochet. “Takes what the opposing team’s giving him and is able to deviate game plan to game plan.
“He's not a one-trick pony, that's for sure.”
The Red Sox are depending on such guile from Tolle when he takes the mound for the most important start of his career: Tuesday’s Game 1 of the American League wild-card series against the New York Yankees. Boston manager Chad Tracy announced the decision during Monday’s workout day and relayed his confidence that the left-hander can handle the grand stage.
“Yes, I know his age, I know he's a rookie, but as far as the way he approaches baseball and big moments, that part won't bother him,” Tracy said.
Tolle will pitch opposite Yankees right-hander Cam Schlittler in what is a fascinating matchup between two of the game’s premier young starters. Both rack up strikeouts with three different fastball variations, and while that’s a clear similarity, their personalities couldn’t be more different.
That much was evident in how each player approached the podium for their respective press conferences on Monday. The 25-year-old Schlittler, known for his burning, spiteful intensity, brandished the same stoic demeanour that he displayed ahead of his epic Game 3 showing that eliminated the Red Sox from last year’s wild-card series.
The main storyline following that winner-take-all contest was that Schlittler, a Massachusetts native, was motivated to eliminate the Red Sox because of the online hate that he and his family were receiving from Boston fans.
Schlittler, who posted a 1.95 ERA this season and is poised to win the AL Cy Young Award, admitted on Monday he’s still fuelled by online trolls.
“I wouldn't say I’m always on my phone looking for that stuff. At the same time, I don't really live under a rock as well,” Schlittler said. “Found ways to use that to my advantage. I think I'm good at keeping receipts.
“At the end of the day,” he continued, “I'm locked into going in there tomorrow and doing my job.”
Tolle, on the other hand, practically bounced to the microphone for his media availability, smiling and cracking jokes with reporters.
“I’ve tried trying to be super locked in,” Tolle said. “It just doesn't work for me. I end up putting too much pressure on myself. I just have found that the way that I work the best is trying to be comfortable and trying to smile as much as I can out there.”
That method has obviously worked, as Tolle posted a 3.03 ERA with 171 strikeouts over 26 starts and 148.2 innings this year. His 4.1 wins above replacement, per FanGraphs, were seventh among AL pitchers and on Tuesday, he’ll have the opportunity to catapult himself into a different level of baseball notoriety that can only be attained through post-season success.
Crochet made that leap in the opener of last year’s wild-card series by shutting down the Yankees, while Schlittler did the same in Game 3. Tolle faced just one batter in that series, retiring Trent Grisham to escape a bases-loaded, two-out threat in the eighth inning of Game 2.
“I got one out,” said Tolle with a laugh. “That's all that I needed to do, I guess. I think it's a great experience. Even just walking out there to the ’pen last year, you see how much the fans interact, how bought in they are. You see how much it means. You get to hear how loud it gets and just try and turn that into white noise the best you can.
“I've had a little bit of experience,” he added. “It might not be all the experience I need, but it's enough to go back to and to think about, reflect on how did I feel in that moment to now, where we get here to try to be as successful as possible.”
The Tolle-Schlittler matchup is just one of the many storylines in this best-of-three series. The status of impact injured players such as Crochet, Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Willson Contreras will become clearer when rosters are announced Tuesday morning.
And, bigger picture, there’s a sentiment that this Yankees team needs to finally capture a World Series title after failing to do so for eight seasons under manager Aaron Boone.
“For a lot of us that have been here a while, we've had a lot of success, but we haven't won the big one,” Boone said.
The manager, along with Yankees brass, determined Schlittler offers the best chance to get the team off to a strong start in that October quest.
Tolle stands in the way, and he’s determined to enjoy the opportunity.
“A real slobber knocker,” said Tolle when asked what he expected. “It's going to be a whole lot of fun. It's going to be a good night.”
