When Payton Tolle takes the mound for the Red Sox at Fenway Park on Wednesday against the Diamondbacks, it will be an event — not only for the fans, but also for the pitcher.
Tolle has quickly come to love pitching in his baseball home, recognizing the uniqueness of an environment that not only accepts his energy but amplifies it. He doesn’t take it for granted.
“It’s fun to be in a baseball city, and Boston is probably the baseball city,” said Tolle. “I was saying to my wife, [pitching in Fenway is] just that extra little nudge. Every time you go out there and it’s a packed house, especially recently, it continues to get more exciting.”
In Tolle’s last start at Fenway, on Aug. 7, he struck out a career-high 14 against the Athletics. He punctuated his efforts with a barbaric yawp as he came off the field, an expression of the emotions that surged into him from the stands.
“The energy that I was giving out, that scream of, ‘Here it is’ — [that was because] Fenway is right behind you the whole time,” said Tolle. “Whenever you get that moment, you understand what that moment is. And what Fenway gets — what other places sometimes don’t get — are moments.”
Tolle seems to channel the electric charge that his high-octane outings have produced in Boston. There’s some evidence of a fascinating synergy between the pitcher and his home park — as if fueled by the expectant, rhythmic applause that wells up when he backs hitters into two-strike counts.
Tolle’s four-seam fastball velocity has been a tick higher at Fenway (96.2 miles per hour) than on the road (95.9). More notably, the whiff rate on the pitch has jumped from 26 percent on the road to 31 percent at home — contributing to an eye-popping 34 percent strikeout rate at Fenway compared with 22 percent on the road.
Could there be a Fenway effect for lefthanders? If so, it’s not obvious. Other Red Sox lefties this year have combined to post a higher strikeout rate on the road (24 percent) than at home (22).
Whatever happens to Tolle when he stands on the mound at Fenway appears to be distinctive. It seems like something other than a coincidence that his four highest strikeout totals have come at home.
Interestingly, Tolle’s top-level numbers are actually better on the road (5-3, 2.52 ERA in 10 starts this year) than at Fenway (3-3, 3.48, also in 10 starts). He’s been able to deliver dominant outings, including his most recent effort — eight shutout innings of two-hit ball in Toronto, where he pounded the strike zone and dared hitters to put it in play.
That ability represents part of his maturation as a rookie. Tolle is increasingly able to take stock of his abilities as well as the opposing lineup and, thanks to a broadening arsenal, adapt. In some outings, his cutter usage has spiked. In others, he’s more prominently featured a sinker or curveball.
In his second full pro season, he’s shown the ability to shift his plan of attack in ways that have shown elite potential. He understands where and how to attack hitters in a fashion that has minimized damage and allowed him alternately to pitch to contact or to blow hitters away.
“What I love about Payton is he knows who he is already as a pitcher, [but] there’s still a desire to continue to want to be better,” said Red Sox pitching coach Andrew Bailey. “I think he’s made some big strides.”
That has been true regardless of venue. Still, there’s a different energy surrounding his starts at Fenway. Tolle feels it; the crowd feels it.
“Boston is a baseball city. I love that people get the game,” said Tolle. “You feel like you have the whole city behind you. It’s special, something that not a lot of places get. I love it. Right now, there’s no other place I’d want to pitch.”
That raises a question: Given his overall performance (8-6, 2.97 ERA, 28 percent strikeout rate) and what appears to be an ability to thrive and continue developing in Boston, has he had any discussions with the Sox about a long-term deal? It was, after all, a little more than a year ago that the Sox signed Roman Anthony in the middle of his rookie campaign to one (eight years, $130 million).
“Not to this point,” Tolle said. “I’ll let [the team and his agents] take care of those conversations whenever they’re supposed to happen or whenever they deem it necessary, but not to this point.”
Would that be something he’d be open to entertaining?
“For sure,” said Tolle. “For [Anthony], being able to be here for the next seven years, eight, that’s pretty cool. We’re calling Boston home right now for however long they want me to call it home.”
And Tolle continues to show every sign of being very much at home in Fenway.
Alex Speier can be reached at alex.speier@globe.com. Follow him @alexspeier.