Red Sox Call Up Payton Tolle, Send Down Rookie Despite Impressive Debut

As soon as Sonny Gray went down with an injury on Monday, the Boston Red Sox were dead set on calling up lefty Payton Tolle at some point this week. But it still would have been impossible to predict how things would unfold from there.

When Gray was placed on the injured list, lefty Tyler Samaniego was called up to provide relief depth on Tuesday. Then on Wednesday, fellow southpaw Eduardo Rivera was surprisingly called up for his major league debut, despite skipping the Triple-A level altogether.

Rivera absolutely shoved in a long relief role for the Red Sox on Wednesday night, throwing 3 1/3 scoreless innings with three strikeouts against the first-place New York Yankees. Unfortunately, the Red Sox were already in all-hands-on-deck mode, meaning Rivera's initial stay in the majors was likely always going to be a brief one.

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Rivera becomes roster casualty with tired pitching staff

Apr 22, 2026; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Red Sox relief pitcher Eduardo Rivera (99) pitches against the New York Yankees during seventh inning at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images | Eric Canha-Imagn Images

MassLive's Chris Cotillo was the first to report Thursday that Rivera had been sent down as the corresponding transaction for Tolle getting the expected call-up.

Rivera gave the Red Sox no reasons to demote him with his performance on Wednesday, but he wasn't going to be available to throw again until at least Saturday after throwing 41 pitches. He was being used as a starter in Double-A, so it would have been a disruption to his routine to have him bounce back even that quickly.

It's been a very turbulent year for the Red Sox's pitching staff, and Rivera joined Samaniego, Jack Anderson, Ryan Watson, and Tyler Uberstine among pitchers who have made their major league debuts already this season -- all out of the bullpen, and all in the middle of an inning.

We shouldn't undersell Tolle here, though. Most outlets still consider the lumbering lefty Boston's No. 1 prospect, and he was having a dominant start to the season in Triple-A in terms of generating whiffs.

At a time when the Red Sox desperately need guys to eat innings, Tolle at least gave them an opportunity to rest struggling starters Brayan Bello and Garrett Crochet for an extra day, after both were knocked around by the Detroit Tigers over the weekend.

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