The Boston Red Sox have now lost six of their last eight games, after falling 8-3 to the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday at Fenway Park.
The pitching is largely to blame. Over the Red Sox’ last 10 games, Boston’s pitching staff has posted an ERA of 5.66, compared to a 3.25 ERA over the 50-game stretch before that.
On Thursday, the Red Sox open a four game series in Baltimore, with the Orioles now just six games behind Boston in the Wild Card race. But before the series, the Red Sox made an announcement that could signal good news for the beleaguered pitching staff.
Tanner Houck is set to begin a minor-league rehab assignment with Double-A Portland next week, indicating Boston’s injured right-hander is nearing a return, according to Tim Healey of the Boston Globe.
The move comes with the calendar working against him, since a tight window separates his affiliate outings from the Red Sox’s Sept. 29 postseason opener, leaving his path to October murky at best.
Houck threw a scrimmage-style outing at Boston’s Fort Myers, Florida complex this week, firing 15 to 18 pitches with his fastball sitting around 92 mph and touching 94 mph in his latest outing. Interim manager Chad Tracy called the session encouraging, according to Healey.
Boston plans to bring Houck back in relief rather than as a starter, a role reversal for a pitcher who was the Sox’s Opening Day No. 2 starter a year ago and a 2024 All-Star. BoSox Injection reported he’s ticketed for long relief, similar to the plan for fellow rehabbing lefty Garrett Crochet.
Tanner Houck’s Injury and Rehab Clock
Houck’s absence traces back to a right flexor-pronator strain that landed him on the injured list retroactive to May 13, 2025. He’d made nine starts to that point, going 0-3 with an 8.04 ERA over 43 2/3 innings. He later shifted to the 60-day injured list on July 31.
On August 18, 2025, Houck underwent hybrid reconstruction of his right ulnar collateral ligament along with a flexor-tendon repair. Dr. Keith Meister performed the operation at the Texas Metroplex Institute for Sports Medicine and Orthopedic Surgery, according to Boston’s official player biography page. He hasn’t pitched in a major league game since.
MLB rules cap a pitcher’s minor-league rehab assignment at 30 days, compared with 20 days for position players, and a rehabbing player keeps drawing his major league salary throughout. Boston can activate Houck well short of that ceiling if he shows he’s ready. The 2026 postseason begins Tuesday, September 29, with all four Wild Card Series, according to MLB’s official postseason schedule, meaning a Portland assignment starting next week leaves Houck only a about two weeks to prove himself before October baseball arrives.
From Missouri Standout to Red Sox All-Star
Tanner Lee Houck was born June 29, 1996, in St. Louis, standing 6-foot-5 and throwing from the right side. The Blue Jays drafted him out of Collinsville High School in Illinois in 2014, but he chose the University of Missouri instead, where he racked up 292 strikeouts, the second-most in program history.
Boston selected Houck 24th overall in the first round of the 2017 draft, and he debuted in the majors on September 15, 2020, going 3-0 with a 0.53 ERA in his first three starts. His signature year came in 2024, when he made his first All-Star team and earned Red Sox Pitcher of the Year honors from the Boston chapter of the BBWAA, posting career highs of 30 starts, 178 2/3innings and 154 strikeouts to go with a 3.12 ERA, per his team bio. His career line stands at 24-32 with a 3.97 ERA and 449 strikeouts across 474⅓ innings.
A late-September activation into Boston’s bullpen is at least somewhat realistic if Houck’s Portland outings go cleanly and his velocity holds. A return to a starting role before the postseason is not. The innings and recovery time simply aren’t there. The likelier outcome, if his elbow keeps cooperating, is as a relief arm for the Red Sox bullpen just as October baseball begins.
Red Sox Announce News on All-Star Pitcher Before Orioles Series