By Tiffany Williams –
WORCESTER, Mass. — Top Red Sox pitching prospect Payton Tolle dazzled in his third Triple-A start, but the Worcester Red Sox couldn’t make it stand up as the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp rallied late for a 9-3 win Friday night in front of a sellout crowd of 8,888 at Polar Park.
Tolle, ranked Boston’s No. 3 prospect by MLB Pipeline, struck out nine and retired 15 straight hitters after a leadoff double in the first. The 22-year-old left-hander departed after five innings with a 3-1 lead, allowing just one run on one hit without a walk. Over his last two outings, Tolle has fanned 14 while giving up just one run in 10 innings.
Worcester (62-61) built its early cushion on Nick Sogard’s leadoff homer, Max Ferguson’s RBI single in his WooSox debut, and Nathan Hickey’s two-out hit in the third. But Jacksonville (75-48), the International League’s first-half champion, erased the deficit with a four-run seventh inning against reliever David Sandlin (2-2), highlighted by Matthew Etzel’s two-run single. The Jumbo Shrimp added three more in the ninth to put the game away.
Kristian Campbell doubled twice for Worcester, while Etzel paced Jacksonville with three RBIs.