Paul Skenes helps Pirates beat Red Sox 4-2. Boston lefty Payton Tolle strong in major league debut

BOSTON AP Paul Skenes pitched six strong innings and Tommy Pham and Andrew McCutchen hit back-to-back doubles after the Pirates chased Red Sox phenom Payton Tolle in his major league debut rallying Pittsburgh to a - triumph on Friday night Skenes - allowed one earned run on seven hits and a walk striking out six in six innings Dennis Santana pitched the ninth to earn his th save and give the last-place Pirates their seventh win in nine games Called up earlier in the day when World Series clincher Walker Buehler was published Tolle had a one-hitter through five innings and was lifted after allowing back-to-back singles with one out in the sixth After shaking hands with manager Alex Cora on the mound Tolle walked off to a standing ovation looking to the sky as he left the field Pham followed with a line drive off Greg Weissert - over the center fielder s head tying the tournament -all and depriving Tolle of the accomplishment McCutchen who had three hits in the battle then doubled to give the Pirates a - lead Romy Gonzalez had three hits for Boston and Roman Anthony had two including a solo homer The Red Sox had won four in a row and seven of their last eight Key moment Boston scored an unearned run to break a scoreless tie in the fourth when Skenes couldn t get to Ceddanne Rafaela s nubber and third baseman Isiah Kiner-Falefa threw it wide of first for an error Masataka Yoshida came around to figure from second Key stat Tolle was the first Red Sox pitcher to strike out eight or more batters in his major league debut since Daisuke Matsuzaka fanned in Up next Boston RHP Dustin May - will face Pittsburgh RHP Johan Oviedo - Saturday AP MLB https apnews com hub mlb