Andrew McCutchen, Tommy Pham upstage young hurlers as Pirates rally to beat Red Sox

As much anticipation as there was for Paul Skenes to pitch for the first time at Fenway Park, it was even greater for Payton Tolle to make his major-league debut for the Boston Red Sox.

At 6-foot-6, 250 pounds, the mustachioed left-hander looked like a mirror image of Skenes last season and was every bit as dominant as the 2024 National League Rookie of the Year through five innings.

Skenes won the duel between the young hurlers when the two oldest Pirates got to Tolle in the sixth. Tommy Pham and Andrew McCutchen — ages 37 and 38, respectively — hit back-to-back RBI doubles to rally for a 4-2 win Friday night in the three-game series opener as the Pirates (60-76) won for the eighth time in the past 11 games.

“The OGs had to step up, me and Pham,” McCutchen told SportsNet Pittsburgh in an on-field postgame interview. “We had to show these young bucks how to do it in a big crowd and in front of a playoff-caliber type of atmosphere. We did our thing and tried to set the standard and had a lot of fun doing it.”

Skenes lowered his ERA to an MLB-best 2.05 by holding the Red Sox to one earned run on seven hits and one walk with six strikeouts in six innings. But he met a worthy competitor in the 22-year-old Tolle, who is their top pitching prospect and ranked No. 28 by MLB Pipeline and No. 40 by Baseball America. The Red Sox released Walker Buehler to make room on the roster for Tolle, and it paid immediate dividends.

Tolle recorded eight strikeouts while allowing two earned runs on three hits and two walks. He threw four-seam fastballs on 50 of his 84 pitches, averaging 96.2 mph and touching 99.2 and drawing nine whiffs and nine called strikes. Despite being the first opposing starter to be younger than the 23-year-old Skenes, Tolle allowed only one hit through the first five innings.

“It was a lot of fun. I love the way the guys competed,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said on the SportsNet postgame show. “Paul set the tone. What a debut, too, for their guy. He threw the ball really well. It was a great baseball game.”

Tolle struck out four of the first eight batters he faced, including two with runners in scoring position. Pham drew a leadoff walk in the second inning, and McCutchen (3 for 4) hit a ground-rule double, but Tolle got Alexander Canario and Henry Davis swinging and Liover Peguero to fly out to right to escape unscathed.

Skenes got out of jams in the second and third innings. In the second, Masataka Yoshida and Romy Gonzalez hit back-to-back singles, and Yoshida advanced to third on a forceout. With runners on the corners, Skenes struck out Ceddanne Rafaela to end the inning.

In the third, Connor Wong reached when center fielder Canario called off second baseman Nick Gonzales on a fly ball only to drop it for an error. Wong advanced to second on Roman Anthony’s single to center and to third when Alex Bregman grounded into a 5-4-3 double play. But Skenes got Jarren Duran to fly out to left.

The Red Sox took a 1-0 lead in the fourth, when Yoshida drew a one-out walk, advanced to second on a Gonzalez single and scored when Rafaela’s dribbler rolled under Skenes’ glove and third baseman Isiah Kiner-Falefa made an errant throw to first.

Anthony, who started the season as baseball’s top prospect, sent Skenes’ full-count 98.8-mph fastball 408 feet to right field for his eighth home run, a solo shot to start the fifth and give the Red Sox a 2-0 lead.

“He’s a good player, obviously, hitting leadoff for one of the best teams in the AL,” Skenes said. “He doesn’t look like a 21-year-old. He’s going to keep this offense running for a long time.”

The Pirates finally got to Tolle in the sixth, when Gonzales and Bryan Reynolds hit successive singles. The Red Sox replaced Tolle with Greg Weissert, who gave up a game-tying two-run double to Pham. McCutchen followed with a double to left-center to drive in Pham for a 3-2 lead.

“I thought the at-bats were really good, especially in those run-scoring opportunities,” Kelly said. “Early on we left some guys on base, second and third nobody out but were able to bounce back and push some runs across.”

The Pirates padded their lead in the eighth on a close call at the plate. After McCutchen singled, Ronny Simon pinch-ran for him and raced to third on a single to right by Spencer Horwitz. Davis dropped a safety squeeze bunt, which reliever Jordan Hicks fielded and flipped to catcher Wong. Home plate umpire Dan Iassogna called Simon out, but the Pirates challenged the call and it was overturned when video review showed that Simon’s hand avoided the tag. Simon, however, injured his left shoulder with the head-first slide and was removed from the game.

The Pirates got scoreless outings over the final three innings from Dauri Moreta, Isaac Mattson and Dennis Santana, who earned his 11th save.

“They had a great starter with this guy getting called up. He has great stuff but we know Paul also has great stuff, as well,” McCutchen said. “Kudos to that guy over there for being able to have a good outing but we were able to get that win for Paul. It feels good on this side.”