Tanner Houck tosses four shutout innings for WooSox in final rehab start
WORCESTER -- Tanner Houck looks ready to return to the majors. In his final rehab start in the minors, the Red Sox righty tossed four scoreless innings for Triple-A Worcester on Wednesday.
Houck allowed just one hit in his outing against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders at Polar Park, surrendering a first-inning single off the bat of Everson Pereira. From then on, Houck was unhittable.
He had three straight 1-2-3 innings from the second to the fourth inning, setting down 10 straight batters to end his outing. Houck struck out a pair of batters in both the second and the fourth innings, accounting for his four punchouts on the day. He did not issue a single walk, throwing 36 of his 59 pitches for strikes.
Next up for Houck: A return to the Red Sox rotation. Boston manager Alex Cora already has Houck penciled in for the start Monday night when the Red Sox open a four-game series against the Astros in Houston.
It will be Houck's first appearance in the majors since he suffered a facial fracture during a start against the Yankees on June 16. He was hit by a line drive off the bat of Kyle Higashioka and needed to undergo facial surgery, sidelining Houck for two months.
In 13 starts for the Red Sox this season, Houck was 3-6 with a 5.05 ERA.