Tanner Houck ‘most likely’ to make his next start, could pitch out of the bullpen
One bright spot for the Red Sox rotation to begin this season has been Tanner Houck.
Over his first four starts, the right-hander is 3-0 with a 4.29 ERA, 22 strikeouts over 21 innings.
The Mizzou standout was spectacular in his last outing against the Twins. He went 7 innings, allowing three runs, six hits and one walk while striking out seven. He gave up a two-run homer with two outs in the seventh but earned his third win of the season.
Boston, however, has been non-committal to Houck staying in the starting rotation moving forward.
His next start is expected to be next Wednesday, the series finale against the Orioles. Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters in Milwaukee that his right will “most likely” start.
That may all change if the Red Sox are short in the bullpen during this road trip.
“We’ll see how it goes this week,” Cora said. “Most likely, it’s going to be Tanner but we have to see where we’re at as far as the relievers and all that. We’re trying to stretch this as much as possible. I think it’s beneficial for us. It’s not that we have to be perfect but our starters have to give us length for us to be able to do stuff like this.”
The Red Sox have been utilizing a six-man rotation this week, which can be taxing on the bullpen. Houck has familiarity of pitching in the bullpen, he would slide in perfectly if the Red Sox need him to over the road-trip.
Boston is expecting lefty James Paxton sooner rather than later to join the club. The southpaw is still with the WooSox rehabbing back from his hamstring injury he suffered during spring training.
Paxton pitched in relief for the WooSox and only lasted 2/3 of an inning. He was shelled for seven earned runs and was immediately removed from the game by manager Chad Tracy.
It’s unclear if Paxton will rejoin the Red Sox in starting rotation or bullpen. If he’s added to the rotation, Houck or even Nick Pivetta will be moved to the bullpen.
Pivetta has been public about not wanting to be in the bullpen. He’s even expressed that privately to Cora and his staff.
“They all want to start. That’s the bottom line. Wink (Josh Winckowski), Kutter, Tanner, everybody that’s here wants to start. Obviously we can only go five or six. But we’ll talk about that when we have to talk about it. But competition is always good. That’s very important. It wasn’t a tryout for him today. It was kind of like, this is what you’ve gotta do to go deep into the game and he did,” said Cora to reporters.
The Red Sox will have tough decisions to make on what to do with the rotation in the coming weeks. Unfortunately, someone is going to get bumped from the rotation. Houck has pitched well enough to make the decision that’ll it be him a tough one for the club.
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