Payton Tolle brings the heat on the mound, and an infectious joy off it

The notion of Payton Tolle as a unicorn is wildly entertaining, if only because it’s easy to imagine the affable lefthander embracing the title and showing up one day with extensions for his mustache and a horn sculpted in his facial hair. But such antics are unnecessary for a pitcher who, in mound demeanor and execution, cuts a figure like few others.

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The rookie delivered a sterling performance against the Orioles on Wednesday night, cruising through six shutout innings in an 8-1 Red Sox victory. Throwing almost nothing but hard stuff — 95 of Tolle’s 99 pitches were four-seamers, sinkers, or cutters — the lefthander elicited 17 swings-and-misses, the second most in any start of his career.

In how he attacks hitters, Tolle (3-2, 2.28 ERA) is wonderfully unusual. Thanks to his ridiculous 7.4 feet of extension down the mound when releasing the ball, the 6-foot-6-inch, 250-pound Tolle seems like he’s punching hitters in the face. And then when he releases the ball, he punches hitters in the face with a mix of hard, hard, and hard.

“Incredible, isn’t it?” interim manager Chad Tracy said of Tolle’s heat-heavy arsenal.

Tolle threw one changeup and three curves on Wednesday. He feels confident in those pitch types but simply didn’t need them, thanks to three distinct fastballs with which he’s capable of dominating: a four-seamer that leaps over bats at the top of the zone, a sinker — a key addition to his repertoire this year — that righties chase off the plate, and a cutter he used to saw or miss the bats of Orioles hitters on Wednesday.

There are only a few starters in the big leagues capable of mowing through lineups without stepping off the gas, a short list headlined by Cam Schlittler, Garrett Crochet, Drew Rasmussen, and now including Tolle. Tolle has used his three fastballs 88 percent of the time this year, second only to Schlittler (90 percent) among starters.

“He’s inquisitive. He’s thoughtful. He’s like, ‘Hey, when do I have to start pitching?’” said pitching coach Andrew Bailey. “The more traditional mindset, so to say, is, ‘I’ve got to use a curveball or changeup.’ [But] he’s offsetting his [four-seamer] with a sinker or cutter. . . . Those three hard pitches are his best weapons, and it’s a self-identity. The freedom to just be yourself and fly through the zone with those three weapons is a huge advantage for him.”

Yet that atypical repertoire may be even less distinguishing than another trait: Tolle’s mound demeanor. Is there, perhaps, an echo of the quirky exuberance that turned Northborough native Mark Fidrych into a cult sensation with the Tigers in 1976 in how Tolle competes?

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The 23-year-old pitches with infectious giddiness, particularly refreshing for Sox teammates who had experienced joylessness for most of the year at Fenway. For some pitchers, a mental mistake such as a fifth-inning balk when he forgot to pitch out of the stretch with a man on base might be the source of self-skewering and a snowballing inning. For Tolle, it was hilarious.

“I wish I could tell you [what happened]. There was no brain there,” Tolle howled in recalling the hiccup. “I hadn’t had a balk this year, so I thought this was the perfect time for it. . . . I was in disbelief at myself. Creates good TV, I guess.”

It was far from the only instance of amusement. During a lengthy third-inning rally by Sox hitters, Tolle stomped across the dugout, poking his head into conversations of teammates and invariably leaving them laughing. On a fifth-inning comebacker up the middle, Tolle limbo’d out of the way of the ball, then danced backwards for several steps as the play was completed; he and home plate umpire Ryan Blakney exchanged quips as the pitcher returned to the mound. On an infield pop-up, he pantomimed trying to catch the ball.

When first baseman Willson Contreras waved off Tolle to record an unassisted out after fielding a ground ball in the sixth, the pitcher uttered something that got his famously intense teammate to crack up.

“I try to make Willson smile and he’s trying to make me smile,” said Tolle. “Watch him at first base — he’s sticking his tongue out at me. There’s a little bit of a thing going on there.”

Such actions aren’t to be confused with a lack of competitiveness. But Tolle navigates games with a rhythm rarely seen, shifting gears between trying to overwhelm opposing hitters and delight in his stage and craft.

“Baseball is fun, and I’m out there having a good time,” he said. “I don’t know any other way to do it, so I’m going to try to be happy, joyful as much as I can.”

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The way he competes is atypical. Those around him don’t take it for granted.

“He’s such a joy,” said Bailey. “He’s pure.”