Tanner Houck throws complete-game shutout as Red Sox top Guardians, 2-0

BOSTON — Last year Tanner Houck’s season never quite got off the ground, and he couldn’t take the next step to become the workhorse the club long hoped he could be.

Now Houck may be leveling up right before our eyes, and Wednesday he delivered one of the finest outings of his young career.

The 27-year-old was sensational in Boston’s 2-0 win over the Cleveland Guardians, pitching a complete-game shutout on only 94 pitches with nine strikeouts, three hits and no walks.

In doing so he became the first Red Sox starter to pitch into the seventh inning or beyond this season, and he made such quick work of the Guardians that the game took 1:49 to complete.

Wednesday’s gem was the latest in what has been a string of terrific outings for Houck to start the season. The right-hander threw six scoreless innings in each of his first two starts and now boasts a 1.35 ERA over 26 2/3 innings on the season. He’s struck out 28 and walked only two, and most importantly he finally seems to have figured out how to get through an opposing lineup for a third time.

In past seasons the most frustrating part of watching Houck pitch was his inefficiency. The former first-round pick has always boasted filthy stuff but often struggled to keep it in the strike zone and put hitters away. But where last year he’d shoot himself in the foot with ill-timed walks that would inevitably cut his outings short in the fifth, Houck is now attacking the strike zone and leaning into his strengths.

“He’s very, very talented, he can do some special things and every time he starts,” Red Sox pitching coach Andrew Bailey said last Friday before Houck’s start that day. “If he can fill up the zone, be ahead, really it’s any pitch, any time with him. The slot is so unique, the way he unwinds is unique. He’s special.”

One factor that can’t be ignored with Houck’s development is the numerous injury setbacks he’s encountered along the way. Late in 2022 Houck underwent season-ending back surgery that limited him throughout the following winter and put him behind the eight ball when spring training 2023 began. By the time he finally found his rhythm his season was derailed again after being hit in the head by a line drive, which knocked him out of action for two months.

Now fully healthy, Houck is pitching like one of the best starters in the American League.

Houck didn’t get much run support Wednesday night, but what little the Red Sox mustered was more than sufficient. Boston took the lead in the bottom of the third when Pablo Reyes scored on a balk by Cleveland starter Ben Lively, and in the fourth Connor Wong cranked a solo home run to left field.