The Red Sox and Rays will close out their series at Fenway Park on Mother’s Day, setting the stage for an emotional afternoon for rookie left-hander Payton Tolle.
Tolle is scheduled to take the mound just over one year after losing his mother, Jina, following an eight-year battle with cancer on May 9, 2024.
The left-hander was originally slated to start Saturday afternoon before rain forced the postponement and rescheduled the game as part of a day-night doubleheader on July 17.
Ahead of Sunday’s start, the 23-year-old shared a photo of his mother on Instagram, with numerous players throughout the Red Sox organization interacting with the post.
“I thought about him a lot last night, thinking about all the Happy Mother’s Days that are going to be going around that when you put yourself in his shoes, that he’s probably thinking about that,” Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy said. “And yeah, I would say that this is probably pretty meaningful for him, for sure.”
Tolle will make the fourth start of his young major league career on Sunday with his mother looking down on him.
There isn’t a day that goes by that the Red Sox rookie doesn’t think about his mother, and on Mother’s Day at Fenway Park, he’ll have an opportunity to create memories on one of baseball’s biggest stages.
The Mother’s Day Miracle (2007)
Fenway Park has seen its share of unforgettable Mother’s Day moments over the years, games that remain woven into Red Sox lore.
One of the most memorable came on a sunny Mother’s Day afternoon, on May 10, 2007, in front of 36,379 fans, when the Red Sox authored a stunning ninth-inning comeback against the Orioles.
Trailing 5-0 entering the bottom of the ninth, Julio Lugo led off the inning by grounding out against Baltimore right-hander Jeremy Guthrie. It looked like Boston’s comeback hopes were fading quickly, but then, chaos unfolded.
Coco Crisp followed with a pop-up near home plate that somehow dropped untouched into fair territory for an error by catcher Ramón Hernández, igniting one of the wildest rallies Fenway Park has ever seen.
With a runner on first and one out, the Orioles pulled Guthrie from the game and turned to right-hander Danys Báez out of the bullpen.
David Ortiz immediately welcomed him by ripping an RBI double, allowing Crisp to score all the way from first and cutting Boston’s deficit to 5-1.
Former Red Sox outfielder Wily Mo Peña kept the rally alive with a single to left field that put runners on the corners and kept the pressure squarely on Baltimore.
Looking back, it’s still hard not to wonder about Theo Epstein’s decision to trade Bronson Arroyo for Peña the year before. Arroyo had just gone 14-10 and even accepted a hometown discount to stay in Boston, signing a three-year, $11.25 million contract.
Peña’s tenure with the Red Sox was short-lived. He was traded later that summer to the Nationals as part of a three-team deal. And if anyone is wondering what Boston ultimately got back in the Peña trade, it was first baseman Chris Carter, who appeared in just 13 games over two seasons with the Red Sox.
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J.D. Drew worked a walk to load the bases for Kevin Youkilis, who followed with another walk to force home a run. The free pass came against Orioles closer Chris Ray, who walked only 18 batters all season, and two of them came in consecutive plate appearances during that unforgettable collapse.
Now trailing 5-2, Boston sent captain Jason Varitek to the plate. Varitek delivered, hammering a two-run double into right-center field to suddenly cut the deficit to 5-4.
The bases were still loaded with only one out as the rally continued.
Eric Hinske, despite being 0-for-3 on the afternoon, was intentionally walked with first base open. Dustin Pedroia was due up next, but Terry Francona turned to his bench and called on Alex Cora, who had been swinging a scorching bat that season.
Cora hit a ground ball to second base, forcing an out at the plate. Then, somehow, it all came back around to Julio Lugo.
The embattled shortstop had signed a four-year, $36 million contract before the season to serve as Boston’s leadoff hitter, but he struggled to produce consistently and had already been dropped toward the bottom of the lineup by Francona.
It’s Mother’s Day, so make you watch the full 6 minute broadcast of one of the greatest walk-offs in Red Sox history. pic.twitter.com/Z7hqoN8iR0
— Tyler Milliken (@tylermilliken_) May 10, 2026
Lugo could have gone down as the player who made two outs in the same inning and ended one of the most improbable rallies in Fenway history. Instead, with a full count, Lugo punched a ground ball through the right side between first and second base.
Former Red Sox first baseman Kevin Millar, now with Baltimore, was shaded close to second baseman Brian Roberts and fielded the ball. But Lugo’s speed pressured the play, and Ray dropped Millar’s toss while covering first base.
The tying and winning runs scored and Fenway erupted as the Red Sox completed one of the wildest comebacks in franchise history.
It became one of Boston’s defining regular-season wins of 2007. The Red Sox had taken sole possession of first place in the American League East on April 18 and never relinquished it, eventually sweeping the Rockies to win the World Series.
That Mother’s Day comeback became part of the lore of a championship season.
Dallas Braden’s Perfect Game
The other Mother’s Day game that always sticks out in my memory came on May 9, 2010, when Dallas Braden threw a perfect game for the Athletics.
Braden’s mother passed away from melanoma when he was just 17 years old, making the moment even more emotional years later at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.
Ironically, Braden later admitted he pitched that afternoon while badly hungover after going out the night before.
The Rays nearly broke up the perfect game multiple times.
Leadoff hitter Jason Bartlett smoked a line drive in the first inning, only to be robbed by a leaping catch from third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff. Then in the fourth, Bartlett hit a slow roller toward third that forced Kouzmanoff to make a difficult running throw to a fully stretched Daric Barton at first base.
Former Red Sox outfielder Gabe Kapler also nearly altered history. Kapler battled Braden during a grueling 12-pitch at-bat in the sixth inning. Had Braden issued a walk, the perfect game would have vanished instantly.
In the ninth inning, Willy Aybar lined softly to Barton at first for the opening out. Dioner Navarro followed with a fly ball to right field. Then it came down to Kapler. He chopped a ground ball to shortstop Cliff Pennington, who fired across the diamond for the final out.
On Mother’s Day in 2010, Dallas Braden delivered the ultimate tribute to his late mother ❤️
The Oakland Athletics pitcher tossed the 19th perfect game in MLB history in a 4-0 win over the Rays.
27 up. 27 down.
109 pitches.
6 strikeouts.
A performance baseball fans will never… pic.twitter.com/i7HrWELJVf
— ESPN Insights (@ESPNInsights) May 9, 2026
Twenty-seven up. Twenty-seven down. The baseball achievement alone was history, just the 19th perfect game in Major League Baseball history at the time, but what happened after the final out is what people still remember most.
Braden immediately embraced his grandmother on the field and broke down in tears. The raw emotion of that moment, honoring his late mother while standing in the middle of baseball history, felt bigger than the game itself.
Baseball lost one of its most iconic figures on Saturday with the passing of former Braves manager Bobby Cox at the age of 84.
Cox guided Atlanta through one of the greatest sustained runs in baseball history during the 1990s and early 2000s, leading the Braves to 14 consecutive division titles, five National League pennants, and a World Series championship in 1995.
The longtime skipper managed the Braves for 25 seasons and became synonymous with the franchise’s dominance during that era. Cox retired following the 2010 season and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014.
We mourn the passing of Hall of Famer Bobby Cox, the fourth-winningest manager in MLB history.
Cox led the Atlanta Braves to unprecedented success, winning 14 straight division titles from 1991-2005, along with 5 NL pennants and the 1995 World Series championship.
The four-time… pic.twitter.com/EzMadqcHkL
— MLB (@MLB) May 9, 2026
In the same week the baseball world mourned Cox, former Braves owner and media mogul, Ted Turner also passed away at the age of 87.
Turner played a transformative role in the rise of the Braves franchise, helping turn Atlanta into a nationally recognized brand through TBS while overseeing the club during the early stages of its eventual dynasty.
“Ted Turner was a visionary whose impact on the media landscape transformed how fans experience sports,” MLB Commissioner Robert Manfred said in a statement. “A dedicated philanthropist, he championed countless charitable causes while leading with a style uniquely his own. Through his leadership, the Atlanta Braves reached millions of households nationwide on TBS, helping build a legacy of sustained excellence that included the franchise’s first championship in Atlanta with the 1995 Braves.
San Diego Padres pitching prospect Humberto Cruz has pleaded guilty to
