The Red Sox couldn’t complete a comeback in Thursday’s 3-2 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays, but Tanner Houck was a bright spot for Boston.
Houck lasted five innings in his third start of the season, giving up two runs on three hits while striking out four.
After the loss — the first of the season with Houck starting the day on the hill — Houck evaluated his performance.
“In terms of just command and in terms of stuff-wise, four-seam I felt was really good today,” Houck said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “Definitely felt like I also started feeling the slider again, that’s a big pitch for me, as well as throwing in the splitter. I feel like that’s been my best off-speed pitch this early in the season so far.”
Bench coach Will Venable, who was serving as acting manager amid Alex Cora’s absence due to a positive COVID-19 test, also commented on Houck’s outing.
“Tanner was great,” Venable said after the game. “He was throwing everything for strikes. I love how he uses his slider to get back in counts. His splitter was working in the zone. He was awesome. Tough spot there, he was able to minimize the damage. He did a great job for us.”
Houck now is 1-1 on the season with a 3.21 ERA.
