Tolle goes 8 innings, Contreras goes deep and Chapman escapes jam as Red Sox edge Braves, 3-2

Gabrielle Starr, Boston Herald on May 16, 2026

Published in Baseball

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In the bottom of the ninth it looked like the Red Sox were on the precipice of their most frustrating loss of the season.

After trailing from the second pitch of the bottom of the first, which Drake Baldwin blasted 421-feet to center for a leadoff homer, Willson Contreras put Boston on top 3-2 with a go-ahead, two-run homer in the eighth.

Veteran closer Aroldis Chapman recorded the first two outs of the ninth. And then everything went haywire. Shortstop Andruw Monasterio fielded what could’ve been a game-winning groundout, but threw high of first base and Austin Riley reached on the error.

The stress level ratcheted up when Chapman followed with back-to-back four-pitch walks to load the bases, before escaping by the skin of his teeth. Ha-Seong Kim chopped a comebacker that ricocheted off the closer’s foot. Chapman dove and recovered the ball in time to throw to first for the final out.

Red Sox 3, Braves 2.

Payton Tolle was the backbone of Saturday’s game. Atlanta entered Saturday leading MLB in runs, hits, RBI, batting average, slugging percentage and total bases, and was second in home runs and OPS. The Red Sox rookie left-hander was more than up to the challenge. He yielded a leadoff home run on his second pitch to Baldwin, but he gave Boston every chance with eight innings of two-run ball. Tolle allowed four hits, one walk and struck out three on 85 pitches, 60 for strikes.

“It speaks volumes to how good they’re throwing the ball,” interim manager Chad Tracy told reporters of Tolle and the rest of the Red Sox rotation.

It was the kind of performance no Red Sox pitcher put together in 10 seasons. Tolle is the first Red Sox pitcher younger than 24 to record a start of at least eight innings since Eduardo Rodriguez against the Oakland Athletics on Sept. 4, 2016.

The Red Sox out-hit the Braves seven to four, but they went 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position and left five men on base. Boston batters struck out only five times, but they also didn’t manage a single walk.

Braves starter Bryce Elder made easy work of the Red Sox until Contreras took him deep, and even that didn’t stop him from completing the eighth. Elder allowed three earned runs on seven hits and struck out three.

Brayan Bello will start Sunday’s 1:35 p.m. ET series finale, Tracy announced postgame.