The pitching matchup for Game 1 of the AL Wild Card Series beween the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees is officially set.
On Monday, the Red Sox named Payton Tolle their starter for Game 1 at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday. He'll face Yankees ace Cam Schlittler.
Tolle is coming off a phenomenal rookie season where he emerged as one of the best pitchers in baseball, going 9-6 with a 3.03 ERA in 26 starts. He also dominated New York this year, going 1-0 wih a 0.69 ERA and 18 strikeouts in his two starts against them.
This will be Tolle's first career playoff start. He did appear in last year's AL Wild Card series against the Yankees, getting the final out in the eighth inning of Game 2.
While Tolle is a Rookie of the Year candidate, he'll face the likely AL Cy Young winner in Schlittler, who muzzled Boston in Game 3 of last year's Wild Card series. He went 14-6 with 239 strikeouts this season while leading the American League in ERA and piching WAR.
New York has struggled against left-handed pitching this year while the Red Sox's offense has been quiet lately, so runs will likely be at a premium on Tuesday.