Tanner Houck saved the Red Sox in Game 2 of the ALDS and proved he deserves a permanent spot on the roster
Let’s get one thing straight: Tanner Houck had already earned his place with the Boston Red Sox before Friday night.
He’d pitched a perfect inning in the Wild Card game, and had a perfect five innings against the Washington Nationals in the final weekend of the season to help the Red Sox get to the postseason in the first place. He finished the regular season with a 3.52 ERA over 18 games, doing everything from starting to earning his first career save, and all while being shuttled to and from Triple-A so fast it could make one’s head spin.
It is impossible to get to the big leagues without a serious work ethic and talent, and Houck has both. But when he came in to relieve Chris Sale after a disastrous first inning in Game 2 of the ALDS, all the Red Sox were hoping for was the Houck could stanch the bleeding.
After the Red Sox had jumped on a quick 2-0 lead in the top of the first, Sale pitched his first and ultimately only frame. He allowed five earned runs on four hits, including a grand slam to Jordan Luplow. In the blink of an eye, the slim but hopeful lead had turned into a three-run deficit, and Sale was out of the game.
Enter Houck, who has been described as the Righty Chris Sale, a nickname that thankfully, does not draw a comparison to the current, struggling Sale.
Chris Sale and Tanner Houck are basically mirror images of each other pic.twitter.com/wYxIFYnDzk
— tess taruskin (@tesstass) October 9, 2021
In Houck’s first-ever postseason appearance, he pitched five innings, and held the potent Rays offense to one earned run on two hits. He retired the first 11 batters faced, and didn’t walk a single one during his appearance. Between innings 2-5, Houck shut out the Rays while the Red Sox tied it up and then regained the lead.
By the end of the night, the Red Sox had amassed 14 runs on 20 hits, a new franchise postseason game record for hits in a road game. Their five home runs also set a club postseason record. After the Rays’ four-hit first inning, they only amassed four more hits in the remaining eight frames, largely thanks to Houck’s dominance.
In the last century, only three Red Sox pitchers have pitched five or more innings in relief in a postseason game: Pedro Martinez, Nathan Eovaldi, and Houck. Since 1903, only three postseason relievers have pitched five or more innings with five-plus strikeouts and no walks: Rube Walberg (1929), Rick Rhoden (1977), and Houck.
Mets star Marcus Stroman, who was one of the best pitchers in the game this season, was impressed:
Tanner Houck keeping Boston in it with that cross-firing, long-levered, wipeout slider and running fastball. He gets some of the wildest swings out of the zone on that slider against elite hitters. The changeup is great too. Going to be fun to watch for years!
— Marcus Stroman (@STR0) October 9, 2021
Pedro Martinez praised Tanner Houck for “picking up the Red Sox” in the ALDS
Perhaps the most ringing of all the endorsements was the one from a Red Sox postseason legend. Houck earned praise from none other than Martinez, who recalled his own legendary relief efforts:
https://twitter.com/45PedroMartinez/status/1446706335765127168?s=20
It takes a postseason legend to know one. And that’s what Houck became on Friday night.
The most exciting thing about this storyline is that Houck is just getting started. The Red Sox developed a homegrown pitcher who dazzled in the high stakes of October baseball.
If this is what Houck did first, imagine what he’ll do next.