Red Sox: Tanner Houck tagged with second loss in as many starts
Red Sox starter Tanner Houck receives second loss of the season
Boston Red Sox right-hander Tanner Houck toed the rubber on Sunday versus the Chicago White in Game One of the club’s doubleheader. It was his second start of the season and his fifth of his career as he was called up because of Friday’s game being postponed.
Houck had an up-and-down afternoon in the Sox 3-2 defeat. He went just 4 2/3 innings, allowing six hits, three earned runs and striking out two.
It did not go as planned, witnessing a solo home run off the bat of Tim Anderson on the game’s first pitch. After the dinger, he would sit the rest of the White Sox he faced in order. He would only give up a single hit in the seven batters he faced in the second and third innings.
It was not until the fourth inning that he would find himself in a jam, despite recording his only two strikeouts in the game, fanning Yoan Moncada and Yermin Mercedes both swinging. A Jose Abreu single and an RBI double from Yasmani Grandal to center field would double Chicago’s lead to 2-0.
His day would end shortly after that in the top half of the fifth, allowing two singles in the first three batters he faced. One being Anderson, who was a pest all afternoon, logging in three hits off the 24-year-old.
Josh Taylor would be the first man out of the pen and surrendered an RBI single from Moncada, which would score Jake Lamb as he singled to lead off the inning. Taylor managed to limit the damage to keep Houck’s earned runs to three.
Houck not issuing a walk was an encouraging sign, throwing 58 total pitches, and 43 of them were clocked in as strikes. However, the White Sox lineup was able to put together numerous impressive at-bats that issued him problems.
He has allowed five earned runs in his two starts, but it seems like the stingy Boston lineup has had difficulty rewarding him with any run support. The start could have been a lot worse, and you can still take plenty of positives from this.
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If Houck is going to be the pitcher everyone is hoping for, then the Sox must give him consistent opportunities to find a rhythm. The loss dropped him to an 0-2 record on the year and inflated his ERA to 4.35.