Payton Tolle Achieves Immaculate Inning for Red Sox

BOSTON — After a nearly two-hour rain delay, the Boston Red Sox faced the Kansas Royals on Sunday, where pitcher Payton Tolle delivered an impressive performance in the first inning.

Tolle struck out Nick Loftin, Bobby Witt Jr., and Jac Caglianone using just nine pitches, all of which were strikes. This included eight fastballs, resulting in seven swings and misses. The only non-strike pitches were a called third strike and a foul ball.

This marked the fifth immaculate inning of the season and the first for the Red Sox since Chris Sale achieved it in August 2021. Tolle's feat is particularly notable as he became only the second Red Sox pitcher to accomplish this in the first inning, following Pedro Martínez in 2002. Tolle entered the game with a 3.15 ERA and 159 strikeouts over 137 innings.