(Photo credit: WooSox Photo/Ashley Green / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

The Boston Red Sox reportedly are calling up their top pitching prospect, Payton Tolle, to start on Friday against a young player whose early career they would like to see him emulate.

The 22-year-old left-hander will go up against Pittsburgh Pirates phenom Paul Skenes in the opener of a three-game series in Boston.

Tolle has pitched for three Boston farm teams this year, going 3-5 with a 3.04 ERA in 20 games (18 starts). He has 133 strikeouts and 23 walks in 91 2/3 innings. His past three starts were for Triple-A Worcester, and he went 1-1 with a 3.60 ERA, 17 strikeouts and two walks in 15 innings.

The Red Sox selected Tolle in the second round of the 2024 draft out of TCU.

Skenes (8-9, 2.07 ERA) recorded his ninth scoreless start of the season and second in four outings on Sunday, striking out seven while holding the Colorado Rockies to three hits over seven innings.

That effort moved his career ERA to 2.02, which is the second-lowest of any major league pitcher through his first 50 starts in the live-ball era (since 1920). Vida Blue holds the mark of 2.01, set from 1969-72 with the then-Oakland Athletics.

'It's amazing what he's able to do,' Pirates manager Don Kelly said on Sunday. 'You see the fastball. The velo, the command was there today. Being able to mix it up in and out, up and down. Go to the changeup, the sweeper. He's always in control, which is really impressive.'

Still, Sunday marked the reigning National League Rookie of the Year and now-Cy Young hopeful's first time reaching the seven-inning plateau since June 8, when the 23-year-old tossed 7 2/3 innings against the Philadelphia Phillies.

What's next?

'Just gotta do it in the next 50 and the 50 after that,' Skenes said. 'Consistency is the biggest thing, I feel. Being on the field, doing the same thing every day. ... Just got to keep going.'

The Boston series marks the second stage of a seven-game road trip for the Pirates, who swept three games in their 2023 visit to Fenway.

Pittsburgh has won seven of its last 10, but split a four-game set in St. Louis following a 4-1 loss to the Cardinals on Thursday afternoon.

The Pirates will look for more from Oneil Cruz in Boston. The center fielder stole his NL-leading 35th base on Thursday, but he has gone 0-for-9 in three games since returning from the concussion injured list.

'Really looks in between up there at the plate,' Kelly said. 'He's got to continue to work, continue to grind.'

The Red Sox know all about the challenge that they will face in Skenes.

'It's super special, because you always hear, oh, this prospect is the next coming of that, this is the next Ted Williams, this is the next Cy Young,' first baseman Nathaniel Lowe said. 'And it's like, yeah, he's worth the No. 1 pick, worth the multiple All-Star Games already, the Cy Young contention.'

After finishing a four-game road sweep of the Baltimore Orioles with a 3-2 win on Thursday, though, the Sox are feeling good.

'At this point of the year, four in a row is nice,' Story said. 'We're trying to chase down the division.'

The Red Sox are now just 3 1/2 games behind the first-place Toronto Blue Jays in the American League East.

Trevor Story and Rob Refsnyder homered as Boston overcame blowing two leads to finish 7-1 on its road trip and move to 15 games above .500 for the first time since 2021. The game also included rookie Jhostynxon Garcia's first career hit -- a double.

Refsnyder was returning from a left oblique strain that sidelined him for two weeks.

Story, who also made a diving catch that turned into a double play, is the only American League player with at least 20 homers, 20 stolen bases and 80 RBI2 this year.

The Red Sox are 20-1 when he goes deep this season.

'Just a good player playing elite baseball,' Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. 'All the work he put (in while injured) last year is paying off. ... He has a team around him, but a very special player.'

--Field Level Media