TCU Professional Athletes

Payton Tolle Is Doing Something Boston Hasn't Seen Since Pedro

It started with nine pitches. Nine pitches, three strikeouts, zero doubt.

On September 13 at Fenway Park, TCU alumnus Payton Tolle opened his start against the Kansas City Royals with an immaculate inning — striking out the side on nine consecutive pitches — becoming the first Red Sox starter to accomplish the feat since Pedro Martinez did it in 2002. The moment wasn't just a highlight; it was a statement from a rookie who is rapidly becoming one of the most compelling stories in baseball.

Tolle didn't stop there. He finished the afternoon with 7 strikeouts over 6.0 shutout innings in a 4-1 Boston win, lowering his ERA to 3.02 on the season. Teammate Roman Anthony was effusive in his praise after the game, making no effort to understate what he'd witnessed.

The immaculate inning drew national attention — from Sports Illustrated to the New York Times — and for good reason. It's a rare feat for any pitcher, let alone a rookie navigating the stretch run of a pennant race.

A Rotation Centerpiece in a Wild Card Push

Tolle isn't just an interesting story. He's a critical piece of Boston's postseason infrastructure.

With the Red Sox locked into the second American League Wild Card spot — sitting 4.5 games behind the Yankees and six clear of the Cleveland Guardians — interim manager Chad Tracy has named Tolle alongside Sonny Gray and Ranger Suárez as the three arms Boston will lean on in a Wild Card Series. Per Boston.com, an "inevitable playoff showdown in New York" appears to be the destination, and Tolle is expected to take the ball in that environment as a rookie.

Ahead of a three-game series against the AL East's Tampa Bay Rays, Boston confirmed Tolle would start Game 2 on Saturday, September 20, opposed by Freddy Peralta. Tracy has shown consistent faith in the young right-hander at the most consequential moments of the season.

The Rest of the Horned Frogs

Tolle dominated the week's headlines, but other TCU arms were active across the league.

Nick Lodolo turned in a mixed bag for the Cincinnati Reds, pitching 7.0 innings in back-to-back starts — allowing 4 earned runs in a loss to the Dodgers on September 14, then giving up 3 in a 2-5 defeat to the Cubs on September 19. His ERA sits at 5.04, and the Reds' rough stretch against elite competition hasn't helped his case.

Tyler Alexander continued his reliable bullpen role for the Texas Rangers, appearing in four games during the week and posting a 3.29 ERA on the season. Brandon Williamson logged time out of Cincinnati's rotation as well, throwing 4.0 innings in a win over Milwaukee on September 13 before a shorter 2.0-inning outing in a loss to the Dodgers on September 17.

Creed Willems, a catching prospect in the Orioles organization, homered in Norfolk's minor league finale on September 14, per Yahoo Sports — a small signal of progress for a player still developing at the pro level.

But make no mistake: this week belonged to Tolle. The kid from TCU is writing rookie-season history in Boston, and the biggest chapter may still be ahead.

The Tolle Show

Payton Tolle is doing things on a baseball mound that people can't stop watching — and not just because of the strikeouts.

The TCU alum and Boston Red Sox starter delivered his most dominant outing of the season on Sunday, September 6, fanning 12 Baltimore Orioles over six innings while allowing just one earned run in a 3-1 Red Sox win. It's the kind of line that turns heads in any context, but Tolle's stat sheet wasn't even the most-shared thing about the afternoon. After slipping on the mound mid-inning, Tolle dropped and knocked out a push-up before getting back to work — a moment that went viral almost immediately and became the latest entry in what's becoming a signature brand of mound theatrics.

"I think I'm going to try to show the positive emotion, and just continue to have fun out there," Tolle told Boston.com after the game.

That combination of personality and production has placed the young right-hander in elite company. Per Heavy Sports, Tolle's 12-strikeout performance puts him among the most prolific young strikeout arms in MLB right now — a distinction that carries extra weight with Boston in the thick of the AL Wild Card race. FanSided has already framed Tolle as a central piece of the Red Sox's postseason rotation calculus, noting that a potential Wild Card series with the Yankees would pit Boston's young starters against New York's in what could be a showcase of the game's most exciting new pitching talent.

Tolle's ERA sits at 3.15 on the season. He's not a prospect anymore. He's a problem for opposing lineups.

Frogs Elsewhere on the Mound

TCU's pitching pipeline didn't begin and end in Boston this week.

Nick Lodolo, the Horned Frogs alum now with the Cincinnati Reds, faced a punishing matchup on September 9 — squaring off against Tarik Skubal and the Los Angeles Dodgers in a series between NL heavyweights. Lodolo went 4.2 innings, struck out six, and allowed three earned runs in a 3-2 Reds loss, running his ERA to 5.12. Not a banner outing, but holding his own against one of the best lineups in baseball is a different kind of test. Fellow TCU and Reds alum Brandon Williamson started the series opener on September 8, going 4.1 innings with four strikeouts and three earned runs in a 6-3 loss, his ERA now at 5.97.

Tyler Alexander made two relief appearances for the Rangers during the week — one inning against the Rays on September 6 and two innings against the Mariners on September 9 — with a combined two strikeouts and an ERA of 3.20, quietly holding his own in a Texas bullpen working to stay relevant in the AL West race.

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The throughline for TCU this week is arms. Four Horned Frogs pitchers logged MLB innings between September 6 and 12, spanning three different organizations and multiple pennant races. But it's Tolle — push-up and all — who's carrying the flag highest. Fort Worth's finest is having a moment, and Boston's October hopes are increasingly tied to it.

The Hug Heard Round Baseball

Payton Tolle didn't just make an out on August 31 — he made a moment. The TCU rookie, starting for the Red Sox against Seattle, bear-hugged Mariners outfielder Dominic Canzone in the third inning to secure a putout, producing one of the more genuinely surreal plays of the 2026 MLB season. The clip spread immediately, landing Tolle coverage from The New York Times, Sportsnet, and Boston.com, and turning the soft-tossing pitcher into something of an unlikely feel-good story amid Boston's September stretch run.

The hug, it turns out, is not a one-off gag. Tolle told WEEI radio that he has a history of embracing opponents on the diamond, and teammates vouched for his character. "There are certain people that have an innate ability to just lift people around them just by seeing them," one Red Sox voice told Boston.com. "That's who he is." The play came in a comeback win for Boston, adding a tidy narrative bow to an already improbable sequence. On the mound, Tolle delivered 5.2 innings with six strikeouts before allowing four earned runs, finishing the outing with a 3.23 ERA — solid work for a first-year pitcher navigating a pennant-race rotation spot.

"Is baseball great or what?" Tolle said afterward. Hard to argue with that.

Horned Frogs Anchor Cincinnati's Rotation

While Tolle was grabbing headlines in Boston, two TCU arms were doing quiet, essential work for the Reds in a pivotal series against San Diego.

Nick Lodolo started the opener on September 1, working six innings and allowing just two earned runs on five strikeouts in a 4-3 Cincinnati win. Lodolo, whose ERA sits at 5.08 on the season, has been more consistent of late, and this was a quality start the Reds needed as they chased October positioning.

Brandon Williamson provided the rotation depth story of the week. Activated from the 60-day IL on September 1 after missing nearly five months with a shoulder injury, Williamson wasted no time justifying his return. He started the series finale against the Padres on September 2, going 5.1 innings and striking out five — a performance the New York Times noted as him "making the most of his starting opportunity." The Reds had been strategically limiting ace Chase Burns on innings, making Williamson's healthy return all the more critical to Cincinnati's postseason hopes. His ERA stands at 5.94 after the outing, but the durability he flashed after such a long absence is the real headline for a club that needs arms in September.

With Lodolo and Williamson both active and pitching meaningful innings for a contending team, TCU's pipeline in Cincinnati is real — and suddenly quite timely.

Also Tracking

Tyler Alexander logged three appearances for the Rangers across the week, including outings on August 30 and September 5 (two separate appearances), accumulating a combined 4.1 innings and carrying a 3.26 ERA. His role in Texas's bullpen has been steady if unspectacular — reliable middle relief work from another Horned Frog arm holding a roster spot on a major-league staff.

Payton Tolle Is Boston's Postseason Anchor — As a Rookie

The conversation around the Boston Red Sox's playoff rotation is no longer a question mark. It's a lineup — and a TCU alumnus sits squarely in the middle of it.

Payton Tolle, pitching his first MLB season, has cemented himself as Boston's Game 3 starter heading into the postseason. The Red Sox's projected playoff rotation now reads: Sonny Gray (Game 1), Ranger Suarez (Game 2), and Tolle (Game 3) — a configuration that would have been nearly impossible to imagine earlier in the year, particularly with Garrett Crochet sidelined from the starting role.

That Tolle has not just filled a gap but claimed a spot is the story. Featuring a unique delivery and a newly optimized pitch arsenal that has made opposing lineups uncomfortable all season, the rookie has outpitched expectations at every turn. His start Tuesday against the Marlins — 5.1 innings, 7 strikeouts, 2 earned runs — was the latest entry in what has become a quietly dominant body of work. His ERA sits at 3.09, a number that would look impressive for a veteran and borders on exceptional for a first-year arm.

The broader context sharpens the narrative further: Boston entered play on June 25th a season-low 14 games under .500. By late August, they had a chance to sit 14 games over .500 — a 28-game swing in two months. Tolle has been one of the primary engines of that turnaround, and his Miami start this week was framed directly around the team's pursuit of that season-high watermark.

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The Rest of TCU's MLB Contingent

Tolle isn't the only Horned Frog pitching in August, though the results have been more mixed elsewhere.

Nick Lodolo (Reds) took the ball against the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday and was tagged for 4 earned runs over 4 innings, striking out 5 but unable to hold the lead. His ERA sits at 5.24 — a rough stretch for one of Cincinnati's more promising young arms.

Tyler Alexander (Rangers) has been working in short relief, logging outings of 0.1, 1.0, and 0.1 innings across three appearances this week. He allowed 2 earned runs in Sunday's outing against the Angels, nudging his ERA up to 3.54 by week's end. Nothing alarming for a situational arm, but not the kind of work that gets national headlines either.

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The week belonged to Tolle, and the larger arc belongs to him too. TCU has produced plenty of big-league arms over the years, but a rookie locking down a playoff rotation slot for an American League contender — and doing it convincingly — is a different level of moment entirely. Boston's September stretch run will offer plenty more chances to watch the Horned Frog faithful nervously track pitch counts, and right now, Tolle is giving them every reason to stay tuned.