The Red Sox ended their seven-game homestand with a victory behind their bats and Tanner Houck's arm.
Boston beat the Minnesota Twins, 11-5, to win the series at Fenway Park on Thursday. The Red Sox moved to 5-2 in their homestand with a plus-five run differential, according to NESN's postgame coverage.
Tanner Houck set the tone with a 1-2-3 first inning. It was just the third time a Red Sox pitcher has done that this season with Houck earning the mark twice, according to NESN's Tom Caron. The scoreless inning was needed because Boston had given up 26 runs in the first inning heading into Thursday's game, the most in Major League Baseball.
"Very aggressive in the zone, set the tempo for that outing in the first inning," manager Alex Cora told reporters, as seen on NESN's postgame coverage. "If he can harness his stuff in the strike zone, he can go deeper into the game. It's not about his ability or third time for the lineup. It's kind of like efficient. His stuff is going to be better, and then he can do that."
On his message to Houck when his day was finished, Cora added: "Very simple, good job, give a hug and keep moving along. He knew where we were bullpen-wise, and we needed something very similar to the other day, kind of go deep into the game. The sixth inning was great for us with him and give him the chance to go out there, and he did an outstanding job."
Houck pitched a career-high seven innings in his start against the Twins. The last time he went over six innings in a start was his rookie season in 2020 when he did so against the Atlanta Braves on Sept. 26. Houck ended his afternoon with seven strikeouts and three earned runs allowed off six hits. He also forced 16 swings and misses, according to Baseball Savant.
"Just go out there and do the same thing," Houck told reporters on what was going through his mind in the seventh inning, as seen on NESN's postgame coverage. "Go out right after hitters, trust the stuff, get strike one. It's really all you can do every time you go out there. Every inning every pitch matters so if you go out there and execute the game plan, pretty good things will happen, for sure."
Here are more notes from Thursday's Red Sox-Twins:
-- Red Sox starters moved to 8-3 when allowing three runs or less and are 2-7 when allowing four runs or more, according to Boston Sports Info.
-- All nine hitters in the Red Sox starting lineup recorded a hit for the first time since Sept. 18 of last season against the Kansas City Royals, according to team media relations' Raleigh Clark.
-- Boston is third in Major League Baseball in runs scored with 111.
-- Kiké Hernández has been on a roll after a slow start to the season. He extended his hitting streak to seven games Thursday, and the infielder is batting .423 with one double, one home run and three RBIs during that stretch.
-- Masataka Yoshida ended his six-game hitless streak and batted 2-for-5 on Thursday with two RBIs. He told reporters postgame he worked with Boston's hitting coaches to improve his form, as seen on NESN's postgame coverage.
-- The Red Sox travel to Milwaukee to begin a six-game road trip. First pitch against the Brewers on Friday is scheduled at 8:10 p.m. ET, and you can catch all the action on NESN+, including an hour of pregame coverage.
