There's a specific brand of misery that comes with watching the Red Sox flail at home, and Boston fans have been marinating in it. Then Tuesday night happened. The kid on the mound carved, the lineup actually strung at-bats together, and for one night the Fens looked less like a haunted house and more like a baseball stadium.
The night kicked off with a casual watch-along invite before anyone knew Tolle was about to do Tolle things.
Come watch the Sox with @alannarizzo, @TheRealJPap58 and me!
Payton Tolle answered the bell. 6 innings, 7 hits, 0 runs, 2 walks, 5 punchouts, and the kind of unbothered postgame mug that makes you want to buy the guy a beer. The mustache is undefeated. The vibes are immaculate. If you're looking for a new favorite Red Sox starter to attach yourself to, the line forms behind a very enthusiastic Jared Carrabis.
Tolle laughs his way through the postgame presser with the W and a zero on the chyron.
Then there was Wilyer. Abreu put a charge into one to the tune of 398 feet and 106.7 mph off the bat, a 2-run bomb that turned the night from "hanging in there" into "actually winning a baseball game." When the bat flips and the trot start trending in the group chat, you know the dugout is finally enjoying itself.
Abreu rounds the bases on the 2-run shot, exit velo graphic and all.
And it wasn't a one-man show. A 2-run triple from Gasper, RBI doubles from IKF and duRBIn (the puns write themselves), and a Ceddanne Rafaela RBI knock for good measure. That's a full lineup contributing — which has been roughly as common at Fenway this year as a quiet inning at the Monster seats.
The full RBI rundown plus a RED SOX WIN hype edit to close it out.
One game doesn't fix a season, and Sox fans know better than to throw a parade for a Tuesday in June. But after weeks of looking lifeless at home, Tolle dealing and the lineup actually piling on is the closest thing to a pulse check this team has had in a while. More of that, please.