Houck’s dominance offers reason for hope, Red Sox blow chance at significant split with Guardians & more injuries

At a time when Red Sox players have been dropping like flies, Tanner Houck provided an evening of respite for Boston baseball fans. 

Houck’s dominance of the Cleveland Guardians in a 2-0 win Wednesday night to keep his team’s hopes of a series split alive — before today's 5-4 loss — wasn’t exactly out of character for Red Sox starters this season. After his three-hit, nine-strikeout shoutout performance on 94 pitches, Boston entered Thursday’s series finale with a major league-leading 2.74 team ERA.

But for Houck, it represented a major step forward. The 27-year-old right-hander had shown flashes of promise in his first four-plus seasons, but nothing near as dominant as Wednesday’s masterful outing.

It marked the first time since 2017 that a pitcher had thrown a complete game shutout at Fenway Park.

“You probably get one, maybe two of these a season if you’re lucky” Houck said. “You just go out there and you feel like you can do no wrong.”

It was certainly a bounce-back effort, to say the least. Last time out, Houck looked like a bottom-of-the-rotation arm while allowing seven runs (four earned) on a season-high 12 hits in a 7-0 shutout loss to Los Angeles Angeles on April 12th. Not five days later, he had No. 1 starter stuff…

What led to such a dramatic change? Houck insists the difference was that he let the game come to him instead of forcing the issue as he normally would. 

“I have that tendency where I care so much that I over try, I give the 120 percent instead of just pulling it back and just giving it what I have,” said Houck. 

That, in a nutshell, is how a thrower becomes a pitcher. Some guys only seem capable of laying it all out there every time they get on a mound (think Chris Sale, Clay Buchholz…). But it’s not until one realizes that you’re not going to have your best stuff every time out that such an adjustment can be made.

“Seems like he was just playing catch with Connor (Wong),” Alex Cora said. “There was never a thought of going to the bullpen, honestly. That was his game, and whatever happens happens.”

(And one wonders if Cora’s “whatever happens happens” mindset of avoiding the bullpen was one of strategy or necessity…)

It’s an overused cliche in sports, but Houck took what the defense was giving him and didn’t overexert himself. If the Red Sox get more of this Tanner Houck, it has the potential to change the trajectory of the season (that is, if the rest of his teammates can stay off the injured list…).

Unfortunately, Houck’s teammates spoiled an opportunity to earn a significant series split not 24 hours later… 

Caught off Guard 

A 4-6 season-opening homestand would have felt markedly different than the 3-7 one that played out with Thursday’s 5-4 loss to Cleveland. 

A split against a Guardians team that has looked like they could be one of baseball’s more enjoyable stories in 2024 would have put an upbeat spin on the Red Sox’s outlook heading into a six-game road trip to Pittsburgh and (hello again) Cleveland.

Had they been able to pull it off, that would have marked only one series loss (the three-game sweep by Baltimore) on the year and yielded a series record of 3-1-2. That wouldn’t have been too shabby a start to a season we all thought was going to be an absolute train wreck…

Instead, we’re looking at a series record of 3-2-2 thus far. You beat the A”s and Angels (you’d better…), lost to the O’s and Guardians and split with the Mariners. A.k.a. thoroughly mediocre. 

Boston went the opener route in the finale with Brennan Bernardino getting the start. And Bernie was solid — two innings, no hits, no runs, two strikeouts and a walk. I continue to wonder why the team doesn’t stick with him a little longer or try to stretch him out as a starter. More often than not, he’s got good stuff…

From there, it was mostly downhill. The bullpen did its things and spotted Cleveland a 5-1 lead through the top of the sixth before getting three back on a Jarren Duran two-run triple and another Guardians run-producing balk. 

The defense also did its thing, bobbling the ball around for two more errors (that’s now a majors-leading 20 on the season, for those keeping score at home…). And once more, the bats couldn’t find it within themselves to muster a comeback and that was that…

"Two routine plays we don't make and then we don't turn a double play, and we lose by one" Cora said postgame. "Just got to keep going, you know. Show up early tomorrow, early work, take grounders, keep pushing them. They're good defenders -- they are -- it's just we're not making plays right now."

(Oh, and how about this one? As relayed by Will Flemming on WEEI, the payroll for the Red Sox’s starting lineup, including the starting pitcher, on Wednesday totaled… a whopping $8.8 million. It was also the first time a Red Sox lineup consisted entirely of players who have played for the Worcester Red Sox, something Flemming also passed along in a celebratory manner… but is that really something worth celebrating?)

At this point in the season, it’s more about avoiding getting off to a bad start than it is getting off to a good start. Of course, you’d take a good start… but look at the Tampa Bay Rays not one season ago. The best start in baseball and in franchise history ended in a second-place finish in the AL East. Basically, if you can avoid burying yourself early, you’ve got a chance to be in the mix late.

At .500 (10-10) on April 18th, the Sox certainly aren’t buried yet. But for a team that needed a lot to go right and had little room for error coming into the season, a hot start would have provided some much-needed leeway for the stretch run…

Mass General Sox

Alright, where to start…

Tyler O’Neill is headed to the seven-day injured list (which is reserved for players with concussions, which the Red Sox initially said O’Neill didn’t have… interesting) after getting eight stitches in the head following his collision with Rafael Devers, who missed another game after his latest surprise exit to undergo imaging on his left knee (more on that below). This comes after Boston placed starter Garrett Whitlock on the injured list Wednesday with his left oblique strain. 

Things have gotten so bad, in fact, that the Sox didn’t even make a corresponding move with Devers out of the lineup… they just played one man down on Thursday. After the game, we learned that Devers suffered only a bone bruise and Cora sounded optimistic that he would be back sooner than later.

"Hopefully (Friday) he feels better," Cora said. "At least we have an idea what it is. I don't know where we're at for him tomorrow, but he should be fine."

As for O'Neill, he confirmed after the game that he had suffered a concussion and told us that the plan is for him to return in Cleveland next Tuesday, right when he's eligible to come off the injured list. I asked him if the shorter timeframe out of action made him more confident that he'll be able to hit the ground running and pick up where he left off before the injury...

"That's one of the reasons I'm coming with the guys on the road trip. I want to stay in routine," O'Neill said. "Hopefully I can stand in on some bullpens. You know, I don't have confusion or memory loss or anything like that, so I feel like I'm really stable in that aspect. I just want to stay in routine like I said. I think that will put me in the best position possible for a quick rebound." 

What else, what else… oh, Nick Pivetta’s going to throw a bullpen session on Saturday as he works his way back from the right elbow flexor strain. 

Oh, but good news. Rob Refsnyder was activated from the 10-day injured list after healing from his left toe fracture. So, they’ve got that going for them… 

Injuries are always going to be a part of the game, but I worry about the Red Sox brass using this as an excuse for their middling start/likely-to-be-season. But here’s the thing about that guys… injuries are always going to be a part of the game. That’s why a winning organization builds itself a ton of depth and doesn’t rely on all of their players to be 100 percent healthy and 100 percent productive over the course of a season.

Sorry, but this is the bed you’ve made for yourself, Red Sox. You won’t be getting our sympathy when the inevitable happens and you weren’t prepared for it… again.