BOSTON (AP) — Red Sox left-hander Payton Tolle woke up Friday morning feeling under the weather. Then he went out and made the New York Yankees’ hitters look weak.

In the best start of his young career, the 23-year-old Tolle retired his first 16 batters, taking a perfect game into the sixth inning, and gave up just one hit over seven scoreless in Boston’s 6-1 victory over its longtime rivals.

“Yeah, just got it this morning, a little bit yesterday, body aches, fever,” he said after his 88-pitch gem. “I laid in bed for a long time this morning. Got here and got some DayQuil in me.”

He was determined to make his start.

“I woke up this morning and said ‘I don’t feel great, but I’m going to pitch today,”‘ he said. “There were a couple of times where I was like ‘Do I tell anybody? Or should I push through this?”’

Tolle (4-5) gave up a one-out line single to left in the sixth by Spencer Jones, ending his perfect game and no-hit bid. He left after the seventh to a standing ovation.

Did the no-hitter ever cross his mind?

“Way too early,” he said laughing ,before saying it was probably like the third inning.

Connor Wong added two RBIs as Boston won its second straight over the Yankees.

Dugouts and bullpens emptied after Contreras walked on an inside pitch in the fifth. He said something to pitcher Will Warren as he was trotting to first and Yankees first baseman Paul Goldschmidt got in front of him at the bag as Contreras yelled toward the mound.

Tolle (4-5), a 23-year-old left-hander, didn’t allow a hit until Spencer Jones lined a one-out, opposite-field single to left in the sixth. Mixing a sharp curveball with a fastball that averaged 94.5 mph, Tolle struck out seven and walked two. He had allowed one run over six innings against the Yankees in April.

Warren (7-3) had his worst start since early May, giving up five runs, seven hits and three walks in 5 2/3 innings. He had allowed three or fewer runs in his prior seven outings,

Contreras had an RBI single in the first, Tsung-Che Cheng and Mickey Gasper hit into run-scoring forceouts in the second and Contreras sent a 1-2 curveball 418 feet over the Monster in the third for a 4-0 lead. As Contreras rounded first, he said something to first base umpire Clint Vondrak, who had called a strike on a checked swing during the at-bat.

Meanwhile, the postgame spotlight was on Tolle.

“Whenever those guys that throw a no-hitter or a perfect game say: ‘I didn’t think about it until the end of the game, all right, dude you thought about it at least once,”’ Tolle said, breaking into a laugh. “You looked at the scoreboard at one point.”

Tolle mostly used a sharp curveball combined with an upper 90s – but a bit below his usual velocity — fastball to overpower the Yankees. He struck out seven and walked two.

“I’m definitely trying to get to spots better because you can’t just blow guys away,” he said of his velocity drop. “I really took a one inning at a time approach.”

Cheng, making his Red Sox debut after Marcelo Mayer went on the 10-day injured list, was 1 for 3 with his first major league hit.

Austin Wells had an RBI groundout in the eighth for the Yankees.

Up next

Yankees RHP Gerrit Cole (2-2, 3.62 ERA) and Red Sox LHP Jake Bennett (1-3, 3.71) start Saturday.