Boston Red Sox at Chicago White Sox

Rookie wall? Payton Tolle felt no such thing, not even when he had his worst start of the season last Wednesday at Fenway Park, getting just nine outs and giving up six runs in a demoralizing defeat to the Nationals. The lefty spent the last six days chomping at the bit to get back out there and redeem himself against a team in the White Sox that has been one of the best surprise stories in Major League Baseball in the first half of the season. In a brilliant performance at Rate Field, Tolle proved again why he has been one of the biggest bright spots for his team in 2026, holding Chicago to two hits over six scoreless innings, while leading the surging Red Sox to an 8-1 victory on Tuesday night. While Tolle looked flat his previous time out on a miserably hot and humid day in Boston, he had his familiar fire back during a perfect summer evening on Chicago’s South SIde. Did he make any major adjustments? “Put on the left shoe first,” Tolle quipped. “No, we were able to flood the zone, and early on, I thought we were having competitive misses, but still missing. After that, I was able to calm down, flood the zone and got comfortable. \[Catcher Connor\