Red Sox's Tanner Houck: Makes second spring start

Houck allowed two runs on three hits and two walks while striking out four over three innings in Tuesday's spring start against Atlanta.

While the results aren't impressive, Houck faced one batter over the minimum in the first two innings when he registered three of his four strikeouts. Red Sox manager Alex Cora was pleased with the pitcher's second Grapefruit League start, Dawn Klemish of MLB.com reports. "As far as stuff, I saw a lot of swings and misses, and he used a split-change a few times today and kept them off-balance, so that was a good one," Cora said. One goal for the right-hander was to throw more strikes, and Houck threw first-pitch strikes to 11 of 13 batters faced. Houck, who has served in a variety of roles for Boston, was ticketed for a multi-inning relief role in 2023, but injuries to three projected starters make him a rotation possibility to start the season. None of the three sidelined hurlers -- Brayan Bello (forearm), James Paxton (hamstring) and Garrett Whitlock (hip) -- are expected to be out too long.