The first game at Fenway without Rafael Devers
With Tanner Houck's rehab assignment not exactly going as hoped, the Red Sox are making an adjustment - they are letting last year's All-Star pitch out of the bullpen.
Prior Friday night's game against the Blue Jays, Alex Cora announced that Houck would be making his next rehab start - Sunday - as a reliever with Triple-A Worcester.
Why the adjustment? Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow explained why the Red Sox making the adjustment.
"For right now, it's more like let's just see by changing the situation a little bit, changing his mentality a little bit, we can push the intensity, we get a little bit different results," Breslow told WEEI.com. "From the injury standpoint, he's making really good progress. I don't think this is signaling he's going to pitch out of the bullpen, and he's not going to start. Let's just mix this up a little bit. Sometimes warming up in the bullpen, coming out of the 'pen, I'm going to go out there and I'm going to sprint and not going to jog and let's see what happens."
In his two rehab appearances with Worcester, Houck hasn't managed to get out of the second inning in either. His first start saw the right go just one inning, giving a run on two hits and a walk. In his most recent outing, Houck allowed four runs on three hits in 1 2/3 innings.
"He has shown he can be an All-Star caliber pitcher and that's going to be his most value," Breslow added. "Down the road, we'll figure out how all the pieces come together. I think right now, let's just try and introduce this new challenge and see how he responds to it."