The Boston Red Sox's pitching staff is quite stressed as the 2025 regular season nears its end. Boston has multiple starters and relievers on the injured list and it will have to be purposeful about it's pitching choices in its few remaining series.
The Red Sox summoned two top prospects and a minor league pitcher to help address some of their deficiencies. Connelly Early has been excellent through his first two starts in the big leagues, and he's let up just one run on 10 hits with 18 strikeouts over 10.1 innings.
Boston will change its plans for Payton Tolle and Kyle Harrison. Before their September 16 game against the A's, Red Sox manager Alex Cora revealed that the two lefties could appear out of the bullpen during their current series, but their plans could change during their series against the Rays in Tampa later this week. Cora noted that September 17 is likely the last day either pitcher could appear in relief and still start at some point against the Rays.
The Sox's plan for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday is set — Lucas Giolito and Brayan Bello will start the final two games of the A's series and Garrett Crochet will open Boston's final matchup with the Rays on Friday. This order will allow Crochet to pitch twice more in the regular season, and he'll be in line for the first Wild Card game on September 30, if the Red Sox make it that far.
Alex Cora announces a temporary pitching plan for Payton Tolle and Kyle Harrison during A's series
Both Tolle and Harrison are in the mix to start on Saturday, according to Cora. He isn't concerned about their workload, nor Early's, despite this being Tolle's first season of professional baseball. Harrison, on the other hand, has years of experience in the major and minor leagues.
Tolle, 22, made his major league debut on August 29 against the Pirates. He allowed two runs on three hits with eight strikeouts and two walks over 5.1 innings. Tolle hasn't had such good luck in his second two appearances — he's allowed seven runs on eight hits, including four homers, with four strikeouts and four walks over five innings in September.
Harrison, part of Boston's return in the Rafael Devers trade, has only appeared once for the Red Sox. He surrendered three hits but didn't allow a run in his organizational debut, and fanned two batters.
If Harrison and Tolle don't appear out of the bullpen against the A's, the next time Sox fans could see them is potentially as starters on Saturday against the Rays. Hopefully, the Red Sox can find a positive role for the two young pitchers to help on the way to a potential Wild Card berth.