Houck making strong case to stay in Sox's crowded rotation

BOSTON -- With Brayan Bello making his return on Monday and James Paxton’s Red Sox debut on the horizon, Boston’s rotation is getting crowded. In the coming weeks, the club will face a difficult decision in who stays and who moves to the ‘pen.

On Thursday afternoon, Tanner Houck made a strong case for one of the five (or six) spots, going a career-high seven innings in Boston’s 11-5 win over the Twins in the series finale at Fenway Park. Houck gave up three runs, with two coming on a seventh-inning homer by Willi Castro, scattered six hits, walked one and struck out seven on 96 pitches (63 strikes).

“Very aggressive in the zone,” manager Alex Cora said. “Set the tempo for that outing in the first inning. 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 through the lineup, it’s kind of like, [if he’s] efficient, the stuff is going to be better, and then he can do that.”

Houck, who underwent back surgery on Sept. 6, spent the offseason working to fill out his pitching arsenal, adding a cutter and upping his splitter usage.

On Thursday, Houck favored his slider (30 pitches), generating 18 swings and six whiffs on the pitch. In the third inning, Houck got Castro to swing on an 82.7 mph slider that hit the Twins’ third baseman in the ankle.

“I felt like I had kind of everything working from the cutter, splitter and those pitches that I’ve been pushing myself to learn, develop and grow with,” Houck said. “As well as throwing sliders, two-seams, four-seams. Just felt like I had a really good mix going on today. [Connor] Wong behind the plate hitting the right buttons. So it was good to go out there and be able to attack hitters right away.”

Houck has been one of Boston’s most consistent starters this season, going at least five innings in three of his four starts and never letting up more than three earned runs. He’s also been the beneficiary of run support, with his offense scoring six or more runs in three of his four starts.

Alex Verdugo gave Houck an early 1-0 lead to work with on Thursday after a leadoff homer in the first inning, before the offense worked a six-run third to give the right hander an early 7-0 cushion.

Rafael Devers got an RBI double off Emilio Pagán, who relieved Twins starter Kenta Maeda after he took a liner off his left ankle to end the second. With two outs, Masataka Yoshida crushed a 103 mph RBI single, Wong added a two-run single and Jarren Duran continued his hot streak since being recalled from Triple-A Worcester with a two-run double (his fourth double in as many games).

Seeing the lineup for a third time, Houck gave up one run in the fifth on a Max Kepler RBI ground-rule double before inducing a Carlos Correa groundout to end the inning. His only other blemish came with two outs in the seventh, when Castro homered on an 0-1 slider before Houck retired Kepler.

“Mechanically, I felt a lot better,” Houck said. “During Spring Training, I was landing a bit more directionally toward home plate. I was opening up my lead hip just a little bit more, causing a little bit of a fly-open, and so my timing was just off. And after talking to [pitching coach Dave Bush] and [bullpen coach Kevin Walker] and everyone here, we got back to landing a bit more crossfire.”

Cora noted that while Thursday wasn’t a rotation “tryout” for Houck, some healthy competition among pitchers vying for a rotation spot, including Josh Winckowski and Kutter Crawford, can be a good thing until the Red Sox have to make a decision.

As far as when that decision will come, Boston will continue to use a six-man rotation through the end of its next road trip (beginning Friday with a three-game series in Milwaukee before three in Baltimore), meaning Houck should get one more start before it's decided who will move to the bullpen.

“I think, for me, I can just go over there and put my best foot forward each time I get the ball,” Houck said. “Regardless of the situation, regardless of starting, relieving, whatever it is. Go out there and put a quality product on the field, let them make the decision from there, and that’s all you can really do.”