In his second rehab start at AAA Worcester, Tanner Houck showed he’ll still need some more time before rejoining the Red Sox.
The 28-year-old righty went just 1 2/3 innings on Tuesday night at Scranton/Wilks-Barre, allowing three hits, two walks, and four earned runs in the 6-5 loss for the WooSox.
After taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning on a Nathan Hickey home run, the Houck quickly forfeited Worceter’s advantage.
In the top of the first the RailRiders were sat down in order, but Houck gave up three hits and two walks in the second, and was pulled with two outs.
Worcester‘s first reliever did not initially fare much better. After the RailRiders blanked the WooSox in the top of the third, Isaac Coffey gave up a two-run double to Jose Rojas to make the game 6-1 Scranton.
After the third though, Coffey settled things down, and between him and fellow relievers Brendan Cellucci, and Bryan Mata, the RailRiders were shut out the rest of the contest.
With the deficit holding, the WooSox attempted a comeback. In the top of the fifth, with Blake Sabol on third and just one out, Corey Rosier singled to plate Sabol and make it 6-2.
After Nick Sogard trailed Rosier with a single of his own, Jhostynxon Garcia brought them both in with a triple, and cut the deficit to just two runs.
Following a quiet sixth and seventh, Worcester’s offense picked back up in the top of the eighth inning.
After Hickey and Tyler McDonough walked to start things off, Sabol came to the plate with an opportunity to tie the game. While Sabol did bring home a run for the WooSox, he also ended the inning.
Hitting a grounder to first, Sabol initially escaped a double play but in an attempt to extend the play to give Hickey a chance to score, he found himself in a rundown and was tagged out in the process, ending the inning.
After once again holding the RailRiders scoreless in the bottom of the eighth, the WooSox had one last chance to extend the game.
Seby Zavala started things off well with a walk and was then replaced on the base paths by Karson Simas. Unfortunately, the next two at-bats were unproductive outs, and Simas was caught stealing to end the contest 6-5.
