How Tanner Houck Convinced Alex Cora To Keep Pitching Vs. Yankees

Red Sox starting pitcher Tanner Houck thought his outing was over Thursday afternoon against the New York Yankees with his pitch count at the century mark in the middle of the sixth inning and Alex Cora taking the pilgrimage to the mound.

But even with the Yankees threatening Boston’s one-run lead with runners on the corners, Cora puts Houck’s fate into the right-hander’s own hands.

And a one-word response from Houck allowed him to continue to tackle New York’s lineup.

“Definitely thought he was going to take me out and then posed a question if he thought I could get (Jake) Bauers out. That response was, ‘Absolutely,'” Houck told reporters as seen on NESN postgame coverage. “I wanted to be out there. Been working day in and day out trying to get better, trying to push myself to be able to get through the sixth inning. That was a great hurdle to have an opportunity to go out there and compete and leave it all out there.”

Houck held up his end of the bargain, getting Bauers to ground out into a fielder’s choice on the first pitch of the at-bat before inducing Oswald Peraza into a ground out as well to come away unscathed.

That put the finishing touches on a strong outing from Houck, who over his six innings pitched allowed no runs, four hits and three walks while striking out seven in Boston’s 5-0 win over their archrival at Fenway Park. It was the first time Houck pitched six innings since June 10.

Houck’s struggles this season facing an order for the third time are well-documented. And he sure was motivated to put those behind him and take a step toward going deeper into games against the Yankees.

“I told myself before the game, I wanted to get at least through the sixth,” Houck said. “The past two outings that’s where I struggled. For me, I just wanted to prove that I could do it. Prove to myself that you can do it, you’re good enough to do it, you have the skill to do it.

“I wanted to give everything I can. Every outing I’m out there, I’ll never take off one pitch. I want to give everything I can to those guys in that clubhouse.”

The 105 pitches from Houck were a career high. The most he had thrown previously in a game with the Red Sox was 96.

A performance like this is a key building block for Houck and should give the 27-year-old more confidence to fulfill his role as a reliable arm in the starting rotation to close out this season and into next year.

“I would definitely say that because I was allowed to go through that sixth inning and push myself to get better and 105 pitches and to be able to execute those ones later in games, I think that’s the greatest takeaway is having those learning experiences and just pushing yourself,” Houck said. “I would definitely say that’s one of the better starts of my career so far.”