BOSTON — Red Sox left-hander Payton Tolle delivered a commanding performance Friday night at Fenway Park, leading Boston to a 6-1 victory over the New York Yankees. Despite battling illness that kept him bedridden for much of the previous day, Tolle threw seven scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and striking out seven in what was the most dominant outing of his young career.

Tolle, 23, who has stood out amid the Red Sox’s challenging start to the 2026 season, showcased a refined pitching approach to compensate for a noticeable dip in velocity. His four-seam fastball averaged 94.4 miles per hour—the slowest of his major league career—prompting him to rely more on precision and off-speed pitches, particularly his curveball, which accounted for three of his seven strikeouts. The left-hander retired the first 16 batters he faced, carrying a perfect game deep into the sixth inning before Spencer Jones broke it up with a single.

“I woke up [Friday] morning, I was like, ‘I don’t feel great, but I’m going to pitch today,’” Tolle said. “There were a couple of times where I was like, ‘Do I tell anybody?’ ... [The outing] was a grinder one.” He dismissed early thoughts of a perfect game, noting he might have entertained the idea only briefly around the third inning.

Tolle’s effort marked the youngest Red Sox pitcher to throw at least seven shutout innings since Eduardo Rodriguez in 2016 and extended the team’s streak of quality starts to nine, their longest run since 2013.

The Red Sox offense provided robust support against Yankees starter Will Warren. Wilyer Abreu opened the scoring with a first-inning triple followed by a Willson Contreras RBI single. Boston expanded the lead to 3-0 in the second inning with contributions from rookie Tsung-Che Cheng, who recorded his first major league RBI on a fielder’s choice and added a double for his first big-league hit.

Contreras further extended the lead with a 418-foot solo home run in the third, his 17th of the season. Following a contentious moment in the fifth inning when Warren walked Contreras intentionally—leading to a verbal exchange between the two and a brief benches-clearing incident—the situation quickly deescalated, with players from both teams returning to their dugouts without incident.

The Yankees managed a run in the eighth inning off the Red Sox bullpen, avoiding a shutout. However, Boston’s offense remained effective, scoring six runs for a third consecutive game—a season-high streak for the team—to secure their second straight victory over the division leaders.

Interim Red Sox manager Chad Tracy described the benches-clearing episode as a brief disruption that “calmly resolved,” allowing his team to maintain focus on the game. The victory underscores Tolle’s growing role as a key figure in the Red Sox rotation and provides a rare bright spot as Boston navigates a difficult first half of the season.