Red Sox rookie Tanner Houck finally gets first win of 2021
Red Sox Nation, it finally happened! A moment that has been months in the making has arrived and we can celebrate. Tanner Houck has earned his first win of the season and the big goose egg in his record has been erased! We all know that records aren’t the most important section of a pitcher’s stat sheet but it has to feel damn good for the type of season he’s had to finally put a tally in that column.
Yesterday, it was announced that Houck would be making his way to the bullpen to beef up the relief efforts for the Red Sox going down the stretch. Thanks to only a couple of weeks left in the season and several off days, Alex Cora is able to run a four-man starting rotation without rushing anyone’s rest days. Tanner has more than earned his spot on this club and moving him to the bullpen is a great move by Cora and Chaim Bloom.
With Cora and his staff not wanting the righty to go deep into games due to his poor luck when the lineup gets turned over for the third time makes this role change all the more logical. Now he can come in for either a long relief effort or to simply slam the door shut on the opposition and be as effective as possible. While that’s more looking down the road at the end of the season and possible playoff run, we’re here to talk about today and Tanner getting that “W!”
Today may not have been his bullpen debut but it was the first time we’ve seen him since he was officially moved to the relief squad. He didn’t waste any time in backing up the faith that was put in him and tossed a strong 2 2/3 innings of work, striking out a trio and surrendering just one hit. The effort today dropped his season ERA from a 3.75 down to a 3.58. Houck also got through his workload needing just 42 pitches, 27 of which went for strikes.
I think we can all agree that Houck is the future of this starting rotation alongside guys like Connor Seabold and eventually Jay Groome and Brayan Bello. His track is here now though and he showed that he could hang this year with the rest of the league more familiar with him. He dazzled in his three starts at the end of the 2020 season but now there’s plenty of tape out there for the opposition. He adapted well throughout the year and found ways to succeed in every outing.
We saw his effectiveness go up drastically when he finally got his splitter where he wanted it and it’ll only get better with more time. Again, his 1-4 record isn’t the prettiest but when you peel that top layer of the onion off you can get the real story of his 2021 campaign.
There’s the 3.58 ERA I already mentioned and when you put that in the equation with a 16/73 BB/K ratio, 1.16 WHIP, and 10.89 K/9, it’s been a pretty good year for the young righty. He’s also been killed by weak hits as his BABIP is through the roof at a .329.
The Red Sox are in a serious playoff push with the Yankees and Blue Jays nipping at their heels. All three teams have finished playing today and as it stands right now Boston carries a 1.0 game lead over Toronto and a 1.5 game lead over New York. With only 12 games left on the schedule every single play matters more than ever. Having Houck in the bullpen gives Alex Cora and his side an advantage as their already strong bullpen then got another weapon to call on.