BOSTON — Red Sox manager Alex Cora described Tanner Houck’s latest rehab start as “not great” and “inconsistent.”
Houck, who has been on the 15-day injured list since May 14 with a right flexor pronator strain, has struggled in both his rehab starts after posting an 8.04 ERA (43 ⅔ innings, 39 earned runs) in nine starts for Boston to begin the season.
The whole season has been a struggle for Houck who was an All-Star starting pitcher in 2024. And so the Red Sox will try something different when he pitches again Sunday. He will come out of the bullpen following an opener for Triple-A Worcester at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
But don’t read into it.
“This doesn’t have to do with the future,” Cora said Friday at Fenway Park. “It’s kind of like a change of scenery to see if we can get him going.”
The Red Sox have done this same thing with struggling minor league pitchers. Cora reiterated there is no talk about him moving to the bullpen.
“Like I said, it doesn’t have to do with the future,” Cora said.
The 28-year-old recorded just five outs against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday. He gave up four runs (all earned), three hits and two walks while striking out two. He also hit a batter. He threw just 26 of his 49 pitches (53.1%) for strikes.
He went to his sweeper 27 times, getting all his five swings and misses with it. He added 15 sinkers (95.5 mph max, 94.3 mph average), six splitters and one four-seam fastball (93.2 mph), per Baseball Savant.
In his first rehab start June 18, Houck allowed one run on two hits and one walk in 1-plus innings against Buffalo.
He has acknowledged he has dealt with arm issues since spring training and it affected him in April and May.
