The 30-year-old right-hander hopes to rejoin the Red Sox pitching staff before the regular season ends.
As the regular season enters its final weeks, the Boston Red Sox hope to get several pitchers healthy ahead of the playoffs, including Garrett Crochet, who threw a bullpen session at Fenway Park on Tuesday, Johan Oviedo, Kutter Crawford, and Tanner Houck. After making a pair of rehab appearances with Double-A Portland ahead of the conclusion of their season last week, Houck joined Triple-A Worcester on Tuesday for another rehab outing.
Here's what you need to know about his performance:
After six innings of one-run baseball from Red Sox No. 16 prospect Jedixson Paez, Worcester interim manager Iggy Suarez turned to Houck in the top of the seventh inning with the Durham Bulls, the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays, leading 1-0.
Houck was greeted by second baseman Oliver Dunn, who appeared in nine games with Tampa in 2026. After working the count full, Houck caught Dunn looking at a 94 mph four-seam fastball dotted at the bottom of the strike zone for the first out of the inning.
Houck then faced the toughest test of his appearance in Rays No. 18-rated prospect, the power-hitting first baseman Xavier Isaac. After getting ahead in the count 1-2, Houck briefly lost command, throwing three straight balls, none of which were particularly close to the strike zone, walking the 22-year-old Isaac.
With Isaac now on first, left fielder Austin Slaten, who has spent parts of 10 seasons in the big leagues with eight teams, stepped in to face the right-hander. After falling behind Slater, 2-1, Houck did well to battle back into the count with a well-placed sinker in on the hands of the right-handed Slater, which he fouled off, before getting the 33-year-old veteran to cut through a 93 mph fastball at the top of the zone for the second out of the inning. However, during Slater's at-bat, Isaac stole second base, putting himself in scoring position with two outs.
The final batter of Houck's outing was right fielder Jack Suwinski, who has spent parts of four seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Houck again fell behind 2-1 in the count before getting the 28-year-old outfielder to foul off a splitter in the dirt to tie it at 2-2. After Suwinski expanded the zone on the previous pitch, the 30-year-old right-hander went back to the offseason, this time getting Suwinski to chase a sweeper well below the zone for his third strikeout of the outing, ending the inning and keeping the Durham lead at one.
In three rehab appearances, Houck allowed two earned runs on one hit, walked four, and struck out seven in 4.2 innings. He is expected to return to Worcester on Saturday for a longer outing in the 40-50 pitch range, before potentially joining the Red Sox for the final week of the regular season.
The Red Sox are 82-68 and in third place in the American League East.
