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There could have been many aspects of Tanner Houck’s outing Sunday against the league-leading Tampa Bay Rays at Fenway Park that crawled under his skin.
But tying his season-high with four free passes did the trick to irritate the 26-year-old right-hander.
The walks from Houck did him in as three of the four batters he gave a base on balls to came around to score for the Rays in their 6-2 win, which dropped the Red Sox to just one game above the .500 mark at 30-29. Houck lasted five innings, allowing four runs on four hits as his record slipped to 3-5 in his first full season as a starter in Boston’s staff.
“We know we got to be better. We know we got to play better, we got to pitch better,” Houck told reporters as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “I’ll take responsibility for my end always. Four walks is unacceptable. Puts you in a bad spot. It’s where those leadoff walks come around and score. Just got to be better.”
Command hadn’t been an issue for Houck during the month of May. In five starts that month, Houck only gave up seven walks. But his lack of control was the main culprit in a start that left Houck desiring better results.
Houck said he has a “few small adjustments” planned to get him back on track. After a promising start to the campaign on the mound, Houck hasn’t strung together quality starts often. The last time he earned a win came all the way back on April 20 against the Minnesota Twins.
“For me, I always look at the stuff I can do better,” Houck said. “Going back to the walks, command-wise, I wasn’t in the zone enough with all my pitches and really got to continue to work. Refine, refine, refine. And just continue to show up each day and not really give in.”
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