Houck struggling to find answers: 'Most lost I've ever been'

DETROIT -- There are outings when Tanner Houck shows flickers of the pitcher who made the All-Star team last season.

Then, there are nights like Monday, when a mishap is so dramatic that it derails his momentum entirely.

Four weeks after the game in which he allowed 11 earned runs in just 2 2/3 innings in Tampa, Houck had the ignominious distinction of nearly mirroring that line in the opener of a three-game series against the Tigers.

This time, Houck gave up nine hits and 11 runs in 2 1/3 innings, walking three and striking out none in a 14-2 loss to the Tigers.

Things have reached a crisis point for Houck where there are no guarantees he will make his next scheduled start. The Red Sox have an off-day on Thursday, and Walker Buehler is expected back from the 15-day injured list, which could give the team a chance to, at the very least, give Houck some time to regroup.

“We will talk about it, of course,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “He had that good one in Toronto. The last one was OK. And today, there were a lot of pitches in the middle zone. The split, it was up. They put some swings on it, the slider, he wasn't able to get it across home plate and down in the zone to lefties. Just one of those [nights]. We'll have to take a look at it and see what we do.”

For a lengthy time after the game, Houck pored over the video searching for answers. Nothing was solved by the time he spoke to the media.

“This is definitely probably the most lost I've ever been,” said Houck. “And just not getting the job done, which weighs on me heavily.”

Through his first nine starts, Houck is 0-3 with an 8.04 ERA. But his struggles go back to the second half of last season. In his last 23 starts dating back to June 29, 2024, Houck is 2-8 with a 5.75 ERA, a stretch in which opponents have compiled an .806 OPS against him.

Is health an issue?

“Physically, I feel good,” Houck said. “I just need to be better.”

The dropoff in putaway stuff has been evident.

Of the 26 swings the Tigers took off Houck on Monday, they whiffed on just two of them.

“A lot of pitches in the middle of the zone and they put the ball in play,” Cora said. “They hit the ball hard. [He had] no fastball command. He struggled today. He did.”

It all fell apart in the bottom of the third inning, when Houck was tagged for nine runs while getting just one out.

Sure, there were some misplays behind him. Wilyer Abreu charged hard on a routine single by Riley Greene and the ball went past him and all the way to the wall. It was a single and a three-base error on Abreu, as Greene roared all the way around the bases. Later in the frame, there was a ground ball that first baseman Abraham Toro fielded when he probably should have let second baseman Kristian Campbell take it. Nobody covered first.

But that was all small-picture stuff, adding a degree of annoyance to a frustrating night for the visitors.

In the big picture, the Red Sox need to figure out what is going on with Houck.

“We’ll talk about it later. I’ve got to take a look at the video, and we'll see what we're gonna do,” said Cora. “You know, right now, it's too fresh, it's too quick, so we have to take a look at it and see if it's mechanical, usage, or this is where we’re at, but it’s too soon for that.”