BOSTON — The Red Sox were ahead 4-0 at home with their ace on the mound but he couldn’t hold it.
Tanner Houck gave up three runs in the fifth inning and another three runs in the sixth. The Red Sox lost 7-5 to the Diamondbacks here at Fenway Park on Sunday.
These are the types of games Boston just can’t afford to lose when it is trailing 4 ½ games in the Wild Card standings with only 33 games remaining.
“I’m harder on myself than anyone else. So any loss sucks,” Houck said.
But this one should really sting and Houck admitted that he has nobody to blame but himself after walking the Nos. 6 and 8 hitters in the fifth inning. The righty, who walked four batters, said his command got worse as the game progressed.
“Early on, I felt like I was pounding the zone, going right after guys. A little bit later on, just was off the zone and out of the zone too much with everything,” Houck said. “That being said, I beat myself today with the walks. That’s all you can really say.”
Houck walked Joc Pederson to begin the fourth inning but he escaped when he got Josh Bell, the next hitter, to ground into a double play.
The ace couldn’t work his way out of it again when he walked No. 6 hitter Adrian Del Castillo to lead off the fifth inning, then walked No. 8 hitter Luis Guillorme to load the bases with no outs after he gave up a single to No. 7 hitter Eugenio Suárez. An RBI groundout, RBI sac fly and RBI single cut Boston’s lead to 4-3.
Houck walked Del Castillo again in the sixth inning to put two runners on base with one out. Suárez made him pay with a three-run homer that put the Diamondbacks ahead 6-4.
“He’ll let you know — he was erratic today,” manager Alex Cora said about Houck. “But in a game that we needed him to go deep, he went six. We’ve got a doubleheader tomorrow, we don’t have an off day. He’s been our guy so you’ve got to stick with him.”
The Diamondbacks swept the three-game series and Boston’s record at Fenway Park dropped to an unacceptable 29-35. After a successful 4-3 road trip against two playoff teams (Baltimore and Houston), the Red Sox again experienced a letdown here at Fenway. It has happened multiple times this season.
“They’re all tough,” Cora said when asked how tough this loss was with Houck ahead 4-0. “We walk a few people, didn’t play great defensively and gave them a lot of chances. They’re really good at what they do. Suárez, he was a monster the whole weekend.”
Houck and the Red Sox are ready to put this loss behind them, but it’s losses like this one they won’t forget about if he fall short of a postseason berth. Fangraphs right now has Boston at a 24.3% chance of making the playoffs, down from 34.1% Friday.
“Come back tomorrow, get to work, keep playing,” Houck said. “Got about a month and half still. So just keep going out there, play hard each and every day, show up, get your work done. And just keep going, keep plugging away at this.”
