BOSTON -- Each time Tanner Houck takes the mound, he looks like an emerging force his first time through the order.

The second and third time through? An entirely different story -- one that again haunted Houck as the Red Sox fell to the Mariners, 10-1, for their fourth straight loss on Monday night at Fenway Park.

Houck tore through Seattle’s lineup with ease over the first three innings, retiring the first nine batters he faced.

Then came the dreaded second and third times through, when Seattle broke out to a 5-0 lead by the sixth inning, with four of the runs coming against Houck.

Why the disparity for the 26-year-old righty?

“If I had an answer, I think we wouldn’t be talking about it, but it’s an ongoing conversation with [pitching coach Dave Bush],” said Houck. “Continue and develop. I feel like later innings are getting better with more experience and we’re continuing to work with it. It’s one of those things where I just continue to go out there, continue to work between starts, and just push myself to be better.”

Houck is 3-3 with a 5.48 ERA in eight starts this season. With the competition increasing for spots in Boston’s rotation now that James Paxton is back and Garrett Whitlock is likely to be activated in less than two weeks, time is of the essence for Houck to get better results midway through his starts.

The first time through the order, Houck has a 2.33 ERA and opposing hitters have a meager .111/.197/.127 slash line against him. But his ERA swells to 5.40 when he faces batters a second time, with opponents’ slash line also taking a significant rise to .369/.408/.523. The third time through the order, Houck’s ERA is 13.50 with an opposing slash line of .303/.351/.636.

“I think the stuff is still the same,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “We keep talking about throwing your best pitches as much as possible, especially late in the outing. It’s just one of those that we’ve got to keep working, keep helping him to get better. That’s the bottom line.”

Is there a mindset switch? In other words, is Houck being less aggressive attacking the zone as the game goes on?

“No, the mindset all throughout the game is, 'Go out there, strike one, strike two. Get ahead of hitters and go right after them,'” Houck said. “I think anyone here is going to preach that. It’s about stopping the big inning and continuing to go on the attack. But no, I wouldn’t say my mindset changes at all.”

As for Cora’s mindset on how to handle the imminent overflow in the rotation, that is still a work in progress.

After Paxton’s insertion back into the rotation last weekend, the Sox are going with a six-man rotation for this six-game homestand that ends Wednesday.

However, that is expected to change for the nine-game West Coast trip that starts on Friday in San Diego.

With key reliever John Schreiber likely headed to the injured list after exiting Monday’s game with right lat tightness, could that signal that Houck will go to the bullpen? It is a role in which he has a lot of experience, since he even served as a solid closer for a couple of months last season.

Nick Pivetta, who starts on Tuesday night and has a 6.09 ERA in his last 24 outings going back to July 5, 2022, is another candidate to come out of the rotation.

“We’re getting [long reliever] Kutter [Crawford back] on Friday,” said Cora. “We still have to make a move [with the rotation]. That's something that we know. We'll talk about it. We'll see where we’re at, what we can do.

“Having [Josh Winckowski] and Kutter together is a lot different than just having one of them, of course. We've been able to do a good job without Kutter throughout the last 12 or whatever days. But getting him back is important for the group. So we'll keep talking. Obviously we’ll meet now and then see what we need to do, and see what we are going to do roster-wise. But obviously, we’ll see where we end up.”