Houck’s not finding relief as starter
Numbers still on rise as question of role lingers
Every time Tanner Houck takes the mound, he’s adding more intrigue to the question that’s defined his Red Sox tenure: Is he a starter or a reliever?
The 26-year-old righthander made his 11th start of the season Sunday in the Sox’ 6-2 loss to the Rays at Fenway Park. Entering the game, he’d pitched to a 5.30 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP — numbers that pointed to him fitting best in a bullpen role.
Against the Rays, he gave up four runs, five hits, and four walks in five innings. The performance didn’t improve his stats as a starter, nor did it point to his being an effective option for the bullpen. His ERA stands at 5.46 to go with a 1.32 WHIP.
But with the recent injury to Chris Sale and a dearth of options to replace one, let alone two, starters, Houck (3-5) will likely remain in the rotation. His future role is less clear.
“I don’t really think about it,” he said. “I just go out there and just worry about what I got to do. No matter what the role is, you got to go out there, throw strikes and get outs. So it’s not really on the forefront of my mind at all. I just got to go out there and be better.”
Houck has pitched to a 2.68 ERA in his career as a reliever. His last two appearances out of the bullpen came in early August last season, when he earned saves in back-to-back scoreless outings against the Astros. In the second of those relief efforts, his sinker averaged 95.3 miles per hour, well above the 92.3 he displayed Sunday, according to Baseball Savant.
In an attempt to compensate for the expected drop in average velocity after moving into the rotation, Houck has been using more pitches. He used five Sunday, including a cutter and a splitter. Those two pitches were thrown a combined 22 times but generated just two whiffs and called strikes, per Baseball Savant.
He struggled with his command, tying his season-high with the four walks and throwing just 57 of 92 pitches for strikes.
“Definitely not my best outing command-wise. Four walks, unacceptable, it’s just got to be better,” he said. “[It] puts you in a bad spot to where those leadoff walks come around and score.”
Houck gave up his first runs in a third inning that started with a walk to Christian Bethancourt. The catcher advanced to third on a single and came around to score on a sacrifice fly. Houck gave up two more runs in the fourth after allowing a single and a walk to start the inning.
He walked the leadoff hitter again in the fifth inning. That turned into another run off a Luke Raley double.
Despite the negatives, manager Alex Cora said postgame that Houck was “OK” and not “as bad as the line says.”
Houck’s starts will need to be better — both for a rotation that could be without Sale for an extended period and for a pitcher who is still trying to cement his role on a staff nearly six years after being drafted.