Payton Tolle Starts on Mother’s Day as Rays - Red Sox Shift

Payton Tolle will start for the Red Sox on rays - red sox Sunday, with the outing landing on Mother’s Day after Saturday’s rainout pushed it off the two-year anniversary of his mother’s death. The 23-year-old lefthander said he will not shut himself off from the emotions of the weekend.

Payton Tolle and Jina Tolle

Tolle’s start now comes on a date tied to both the holiday and the loss of Jina Tolle, who died at 48 after battling Stage 4 colon cancer. She was first diagnosed in 2016 and was given three months to live, then survived nearly eight years and went through over 125 rounds of chemotherapy.

He said, “I’m not going to shut myself off from what it is like,” and added that his mother’s influence was felt “More than anybody could ever imagine.” Tolle also said, “The joy that she had, I try to keep with me, especially when it comes to baseball. She always said, ‘Show people why you play, who you play for, and why you love it.’ I just have so much joy playing this game. She helped me know it’s OK to show that.”

Chris Reilly and Oklahoma

The family connection runs through baseball, too. In 2019, when Tolle was a two-way player and rising junior at a showcase for the top high school talent in Oklahoma, he impressed Chris Reilly, then an area scout for the Athletics, with home runs that clanged the scoreboard. A conversation in the stands introduced Reilly to Jina Tolle and led to an enduring friendship.

Reilly later became the director of pitching at West Virginia and was hired by the Red Sox in 2020 to scout North Texas and North Louisiana. That coverage pulled him off Tolle at Bethany High School and later at Wichita State, where Tolle spent two years as a standout.

Mother’s Day at Fenway

Tolle said his mother’s approach was direct. “There was no sugarcoating,” he said. “You could not throw the ball in the zone today — so go get better at it.” He added, “[That development mind-set] absolutely comes from her and my dad, too.”

For Boston, the move places a young starter on the mound in a setting shaped as much by timing as by matchup. For Tolle, Sunday is not just another turn; it is a start he will carry with him because the calendar, the rainout and the memory all landed on the same weekend.