NORTH PORT, FL -- The Red Sox insist they're not worried about Tanner Houck. Houck himself is seemingly not concerned.
But perhaps they should be.
Houck's rocky spring concluded Monday when he was hammered for six runs on three homers -- two of them moonshots over the batter's eye in dead center -- in a 6-1 loss to the Atlanta Braves in the Sox' second-to-last Grapefruit League contest.
For the spring, Houck has yielded an astounding nine homers in just 20.1 innings, allowing 22 earned runs.
"Honestly, just missed some spots,'' offered Houck. "I worked out of the windup and I haven't done that all spring. I've kind of been feeling out my delivery. I've been really quick all spring. I felt like I threw a lot more strikes today, a lot more competitive pitches. I just got beat with some homers.''
The Red Sox believed they spotted some things on video late last week and had hoped that Houck could incorporate some adjustments Monday. But those mechanical changes remain a work in progress.
"I was getting too quick down the mound,'' said Houck. "Immediately, my front shoulder was going and dipping. As soon as I lifted (my front foot), I was never on my back side, I wasn't giving my arm a chance to catch up. I was doing it wrong for so long, I had to over-adjust. It's not an overnight thing, but it's one of those things that you can chip away at it each day.''
By his own admission, Houck would have preferred a far cleaner outing in his last Grapefruit League start to provide some positive momentum in the lead up to his start Sunday against Baltimore.
"It helps having that little bit of boost,'' he conceded, "but this just keeps me hungry to get back out there, keep working and just continue to show up every day. There's six days until my first outing of the year -- that's plenty of time to continue to get some more dry work, look at some more video and have conversations with (pitching coach Dave Bush, bullpen coach Kevin Walker and Alex Cora).
"The homers are the homers,'' shrugged Cora. "Hopefully, it's not going to translate during the season. The walks (two Monday) are the ones that put you in a bad spot. I think he was much better than (he was in) the last one. I'm just worried about the strike-throwing part of it.''
"I didn't have a very good spring. Now, it's about putting that behind me and understanding that these stats don't matter. You're out there to work on stuff and working on different pitches, different locations, trying to do stuff that you're not 100 percent committed to during the season. In that sense, I've had a great spring where I forced myself to throw a lot of splitters, a new pitch, and just throw myself into some uncomfortable circumstances. Having been thrown into those circumstances, now I feel prepared for the season.
''I have to look at the bright lining. Through all the clouds and all the unfortunate events that happened, I still have the confidence to go out there and do what I know I can do.''
___________________
Right fielder Alex Verdugo made a near-perfect throw from the right field corner in the second inning, cutting down Braves outfielder Sam Hilliard attempting to stretch a single into a double ... Yu Chang, making his first appearance in a game this spring, belted a double. "He's been swinging the bat well,'' said Cora, "in the tournament and obviously he did his work. He showed some good swings today.'' ... Kenley Jansen, who last pitched Friday night before feeling lightheaded and being removed from the game mid-inning, returned to the mound and pitched the fourth inning, allowing a hit and two walks. "His velo was up, which is important,'' said Cora. "He still feels like he's a little bit off mechanically. But I think the stuff was a lot better than the last few outings.''..The Red Sox, who used pretty much their Opening Day lineup with the exception of Reese McGuire and Christian Arroyo, were limited to just four hits, including only one in the first six innings.