Tanner Houck tossed five shutout innings in his major league debut and get four innings of two-hit relief from three relievers to earn a win as the Red Sox blanked the Miami Marlins, 2-0.
Houck struck out seven and walked three en route to his victory.
Jackie Bradley Jr. doubled home the only run the Sox would need, while Christian Vazquez dropped a bloop single into center to give the Sox an insurance run in the eighth.
WHO: Red Sox (17-31) vs. Miami Marlins (24-21)
WHEN: 6:40 p.m.
WHERE: Marlins Park
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Tanner Houck (MLB debut) vs. RHP Sandy Alcantara (2-1, 3.97)
TV/RADIO: NESN; WEEI 93.7 FM
LINEUPS
RED SOX
Verdugo RF
Devers 3B
Bogaerts SS
Martinez DH
Vazquez C
Bradley CF
Dalbec 1B
Arroyo 2B
Munoz LF
MARLINS
Dickerson LF
Marte CF
Aguilar 1B
Joyce RF
Anderson 3B
Cooper DH
Rojas SS
Chisolm 2B
Alfaro C
IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS:
B8th: Terrific running catch by Yairo Munoz, who reaches up on the backhand and hauls in a ball to rob Jazz Chisholm of extra bases.
T8th: Christian Vazquez lofts a blooper into shallow CF, scoring Devers with a huge insurance run.
T8th: Ill-conceived pickoff attempt by James Hoyt, who tries to pick off Rafael Devers (double), but the plan backfires as the throw goes into CF and Devers moves to third.
B6th: First appearance on the mound for Dylan Covey since in more than month, and he sets the Marlins down in order in the bottom of the sixth and again in the seventh.
T6th: Jackie Bradley Jr. reaches out and slices a pitch on the outside corner to left, scoring Bogaerts and sending Vazquez to third.
T5th: Red Sox had something going vs. Sandy Alcantara for the first time, with first-and-second and one out, but Yairo Munoz struck out and Verdugo flied out, ending the threat.
B4th: For the second time in the last three innings, Houck bails himself out of a first-and-second jam by getting someone swinging.
T3rd: Opposite-field single for Alex Verdugo, giving him an 11-game hitting streak in interleague play.
B2nd: Impressive that Houck got two strikeouts on his splitter to left-handed hitters. He's had a lot of trouble getting out lefties and dropped his changeup in favor of the split-finger fastball as his "out'' pitch to them. Worked twice there.
B1st: The Marlins have help out Tanner Houck as Corey Dickerson lines a leadoff single to left-center, but is thrown out trying to stretch it into a double.
PRE-GAME NOTES
- To get Tanner Houck on the 40-man roster, the Red Sox transferred Kyle Hart (hip) to the 45-day IL. To get him on the 28-man major league roster, the Sox placed Andrew Triggs (right radial nerve inflammation) on the 10-day IL
- Ron Roenicke said Mike Kickham will get the chance to start Wednesday's game with Nathan Eovaldi set to pitch the finale Thursday afternoon.
- Roenicke said the team is still discussing promoting RHP Nick Pivetta for a start in the final week and a half remaining in the season. "We've talked about him a lot,'' said Roenicke. "We're still making decisions on that. We do have a plan in place. But we want to make sure we're still doing the right things.'' As has been previously mentioned, the Red Sox are likely waiting until Sept. 18 before adding him to their major league roster, since doing so will give them an additional year of control.
- Christian Vazquez was asked his advice for Houck, making his major league debut tonight. "To enjoy it,'' said the catcher. "It's the only time it'll be your first time in big l eagues. Be calm. You need to breathe because there will be a lot of emotions.''
- A number of pitchers on the IL are progressing and throwing and some could be activated. "That's ongoing,'' said Roenicke. "Darwinzon (Hernandez, SC joint) threw a bullpen today and it went really well. So we're figure out the next step with him. But we're happy that he's really ready to come off sometime -- whenever we feel is right. I think the other guys (Kyle Hart, Josh Taylor, Zack Godley), we are still trying to figure out what to do -- whether they play catch and try to get them back for the last few games or whether we think there's no a reason to. A lot's going on on the medical end, trying to figure out what's going on with some of these pitchers and how much we want to get them back on the field or whether we want to play it safer and not have them pitch again.''
- Roenicke acknowledged that if the Sox were still in postseason contention, some of the pitchers would be willing and able to push through vsarious maladies and keep pitching. "Yes, that does come up,'' he said. "And I know we're still trying to win as many games as we can. But we're in a spot where, why are we going to make a guy pitch when he's a little bit sore or his arm's dead and we're out of it?'