Over the past few weeks the Red Sox have been trying to piece the back of the rotation together, but manager Alex Cora indicated Wednesday that the club has settled on a plan for the remainder of the season.
After Garrett Crochet makes his next start on Friday against the Tampa Bay Rays, Cora said Kyle Harrison will get the ball next on Saturday, followed by rookie Connelly Early on Sunday.
Cora also announced that Harrison will remain in the rotation the rest of the way and that fellow rookie Payton Tolle will be used as a reliever.
“Tolle is going to be in the bullpen,” Cora said. “We decided that it was going to be Harrison and there’s no more starts, so we put (Tolle) in the bullpen and we’ll see where he takes us.”
Harrison, a 24-year-old left-hander, was one of the players acquired in June’s Rafael Devers trade and recently made his Red Sox debut after spending the last three months in Triple-A working on his pitch mix. Cora said Harrison looked great in that first outing, during which he tossed three scoreless innings in Boston’s 5-4 loss to the A’s in Sacramento on Sept. 10, while also noting that he has a lot more experience than Tolle.
Despite his youth, Harrison is today in his third season as a major leaguer, having made 40 MLB appearances since debuting with the San Francisco Giants in 2023. Tolle, meanwhile, was only drafted last summer and is still in his first full season as a professional.
Tolle shined in his MLB debut, allowing two runs over 5.1 innings while striking out eight on Aug. 29 against the Pittsburgh Pirates, but has since allowed two home runs in each of his last two starts, neither of which lasted longer than three innings.
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