Red Sox loss spoils Tanner Houck’s start as Walker Buehler injury concern looms

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TORONTO — For the second night in a row, the Boston Red Sox received a terrific performance from their starting pitcher only to watch the bullpen let a lead slip away late, resulting in another gut-punch of a loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.

On Thursday, Tanner Houck made his best start of the season — and perhaps his best start since the first half of last year — but a misplay from Wilyer Abreu in the eighth inning and a missed location on a curveball from reliever Justin Slaten turned a 2-1 Red Sox lead into a 4-2 loss in a matter of minutes.

The previous night, the Jays won in walk-off fashion after the Red Sox wasted a stellar season debut from Lucas Giolito, as the Jays mounted a comeback against Garrett Whitlock before Slaten took the loss in the 10th. It was a disappointing two nights for the Red Sox’s normally reliable backend of the bullpen.

“That’s part of baseball, right? We have two of our best relievers on the mound and it didn’t happen,” manager Alex Cora said. “I’m happy with the outing by Tanner. He did an outstanding job. But we didn’t finish the game.”

Over seven strong innings, Houck allowed one run on four hits with six strikeouts and didn’t issue a walk. He threw 86 pitches, 62 for strikes, registered 11 swings-and-misses. In the outing, he had the best velocity of his career, topping out at 97.5 mph.

“Felt better, kind of all around, especially in the delivery,” said Houck, who entered the game with a 7.58 ERA through his first six starts. “Being a hyper-mobile guy, I need to really stay connected and in tune with the delivery to go out there and execute pitches and felt like (catcher Carlos Narváez) and I really worked well together today and stuck to the game plan all the way through.”

Through the first six innings, Houck faced two batters over the minimum before running into a little trouble in the seventh. Daulton Varsho tucked a one-out, solo homer just inside the pole in left field to cut Boston’s lead to 2-1. After inducing an Alejandro Kirk ground out, Houck hit Addison Barger and the Red Sox convened for a mound meeting before Houck buckled down and got Alan Roden to ground out to end the inning.

He turned the game over to Slaten in the eighth, but for the second night in a row Slaten misfired. Slaten allowed a one-out single to Nathan Lukes before Abreu, a Gold Glove winning right fielder, misplayed a deep fly ball off the bat of Bo Bichette. Abreu got turned around on the play and fell down, resulting in a Bichette double that put two runners in scoring position.

“It was a routine fly,” Abreu said through translator Carlos Villoria-Benetiz. “It was a bad read on my part. There’s not anything else I can say.”

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. then smashed a three-run homer off Slaten on a 3-2 curveball to flip the script on the game, turning the 2-1 lead into a 4-2 deficit.

“Super frustrating,” Slaten said. “It’s back-to-back nights where I felt like my stuff was as good as it has been in my life. I just didn’t execute with two strikes. That’s what it comes down to. You can’t leave a slider in the middle of the plate to a good hitter like Bichette.”

Outside of Alex Bregman’s two-out, two-run double with the bases loaded in the fifth, the Red Sox offense was shut down once again for much of the game against Toronto starter José Berríos. Collectively, the Red Sox struck out 10 times and are now 5-13 in games where they had 10 strikeouts or more. They are 12-3 in games with fewer than 10 punch outs.

The disappointing loss wasn’t the only worrying development for the Red Sox as they head back to Boston following their 3-3 roadtrip.

Prior to the game, Cora revealed starter Walker Buehler had not bounced back well from his start last weekend in Cleveland and had returned to Boston for testing on his shoulder.

While Cora later downplayed the testing as precautionary and the injury as something the club was not overly concerned about on WEEI’s pre-game radio show, it still represents a worrisome development for a pitcher who had Tommy John surgery in 2022, missing all of 2023 and the start of 2024 as he rehabbed.

The results of Buehler’s tests had not returned by the end of the game and Cora was uncertain if Buehler would need time on the injured list. For now, Brayan Bello was moved up to start on Friday with Garrett Crochet set to start on Sunday. Saturday’s starter is to be determined.

If Buehler lands on the IL, Hunter Dobbins is likely to be recalled from Triple-A Worcester. Richard Fitts, who has been on the IL with a pectoral strain, is still only throwing on flat ground at 120 feet.

If Buehler avoids an IL stint and instead is just skipped a turn in the rotation, the Red Sox may use a bullpen game on Saturday, with Sean Newcomb stretched out to start. Dobbins didn’t make his scheduled start for Worcester on Wednesday, likely held back in case he’s needed this weekend.

Meanwhile, Kristian Campbell had been slated to start in center field on Thursday but was a late scratch with right rib discomfort. Cora said after the game Campbell is day-to-day after feeling the discomfort stretching before the game. The team decided to play it safe and keep him out of the lineup.

Regardless, both developments marked areas of concern on another frustrating night for the Red Sox.

(Photo of Abreu misplaying Bichette’s double: Dan Hamilton / Imagn Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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