Payton Tolle pitched seven dominant innings and combined with two relievers on a three-hitter Friday night as the Boston Red Sox earned a 6-1 victory over the visiting New York Yankees.
Tolle (4-5) retired the first 16 hitters before rookie Spencer Jones looped a single in the sixth. The left-hander did not allow another baserunner until issuing consecutive two-out walks to Jasson Dominguez and Jose Caballero in the seventh inning, his only two three-ball counts of the night.
Tolle struck out seven and permitted only three baserunners. The 23-year-old threw first-pitch strikes to 18 of 24 hitters and ended his outing by retiring Jazz Chisholm Jr. on a warning-track flyout to center field.
Willson Contreras hit an RBI single in the first inning and homered over the Green Monster in the third off New York’s Will Warren (7-3). Contreras also became upset at being pitched inside by Warren in the fifth and yelled at the right-hander after walking.
As Contreras was yelling at Warren, both benches and bullpens cleared but the incident did not escalate further.
Tsung-Che Cheng drove in a run in the second in his first at-bat for Boston when the Yankees could not turn a double play.
Mickey Gasper added an RBI groundout in the second and Connor Wong lifted a sacrifice fly in the sixth that scored Caleb Durbin, who doubled when Jones could not complete a diving catch in center field.
Wong also had an RBI single in the eighth after Jarren Duran singled and stole second earlier in the inning.
The Yankees were blanked until Anthony Volpe opened the eighth with a double off Tommy Kahnle and scored on a groundout by pinch hitter Austin Wells.
Ryan Watson allowed a two-out double to Dominguez in the ninth before retiring Caballero on the next pitch to end Boston’s third win in the past four meetings with the Yankees.
Warren allowed five runs on seven hits in 5 2/3 innings. The right-hander threw 55 of 90 pitches for strikes, did not register a strikeout and issued three walks.
New York lost for the sixth time in nine games and was held to three hits, going 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position.
