More help is on the way for the Boston Red Sox. According to manager Alex Cora, Tanner Houck will make his final rehab start on Wednesday afternoon at Polar Park in Worcester and will get the start Monday night when the Red Sox take on the Houston Astros.
The 27-year-old righty has been on the injured list since June 18 after suffering a facial fracture when he took a line drive off the face in a game against the Yankees back on June 16.
Houck will be the final addition from the Red Sox' “mini trade deadline” after Trevor Story returned last week, Chris Sale returned Friday, and Garrett Whitlock returned on Sunday. The Red Sox front office banked on the return of their injured players rather than adding at the trade deadline, and so far, it has gone well.
The addition of another arm into the rotation is invaluable for the Red Sox, who have been leaning on openers once or twice a week for most of the summer.
The manager also provided an update on how the team will manage Garrett Whitlock’s workload, noting that if he pitches two innings, he’ll get two days of rest, and if pitches three innings, he will get three days of rest.
Also of note was Cora’s update on Masataka Yoshida. Yoshida has struggled a bit in August, which Alex Cora believes is a result of fatigue. “You can see it. The way he is moving, hitting-wise all the ground balls,” the manager said.
Cora noted the high volume of groundballs is one of the red flags the team had heard from the Orix Buffaloes, Yoshida’s former team in Japan.
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