Red Sox offense falters, bullpen blows late lead in loss to Astros

BOSTON — Tanner Houck had to throw 16 pitches before getting the first out of Friday night’s game, and he wouldn’t get a strikeout until he’d faced his 16th Houston Astro.

It would be the Red Sox right-hander’s lone K over six innings, but he made do without. And lack of punch-out power wasn’t the reason the Astros emerged victorious, 8-4. That would be the Boston bullpen, which faltered yet again, turning a two-run Red Sox lead in the seventh into another frustrating loss.

Houck threw 82 pitches (51 for strikes) and held Houston to one earned run on four hits, issued three walks — one intentional — and one hit batsman. He only got two swings and misses, but induced enough weak contact to work around the minimal traffic the Astros created: 11 groundouts — including Yainer Diaz to leave the bases loaded in the fifth — to just three flyouts. Houck’s first and final outs were courtesy of a pair of double plays.

“I think I made really good in-game adjustments,” Houck said. “Early on, struggled with the command a little bit, but ultimately, was able to kind of bounce back, make the pitches when I needed to.”

In many ways, it was a bounce-back performance for Houck, who’d allowed six earned runs over five innings in his previous outing. It was his 16th quality start of the season, and his 11th performance in which he allowed no more than one earned run. It’s an impressive feat for the righty, who’s had to make adjustments as his punch-out numbers have plummeted: after striking out multiple batters in each of his 17 starts between the beginning of the season and end of June — including at least four batters in all but one of those games — he’s struck out one or two batters in four of six starts since the beginning of July.

“At this point in August, you know, teams make adjustments,” manager Alex Cora said. “I do believe that we’re facing veteran lineups that — not everybody prepares for everybody — but it’s a veteran team that, they take away certain pitches, and that’s how it works. … You have to execute, and I do believe today he executed.”

Friday night was unusual and unfamiliar for Ronel Blanco, too. The Astros starter had never faced a single hitter on the Red Sox roster, and he’d been throwing a virtually-unhittable slider, against which batters were hitting just .166 with a measly .242 slugging percentage this season.

The Red Sox tagged Blanco for three runs, two earned, on four hits, three walks and five strikeouts. They got on the board and took the lead in the bottom of the second, when Nick Sogard singled, and Ceddanne Rafaela and David Hamilton followed with a single and go-ahead two-RBI double, both off Blanco sliders.

But as has been the case too often since the All-Star break, the Boston bullpen turned a lead into a deficit. Four relievers — Lucas Sims, Zack Kelly, Luis Garcia, and Cam Booser — combined for seven earned runs on 12 hits over the last three innings.

“That’s a fast-break offense,” Cora said. “When they get going, they get going.”

Sims hadn’t allowed a hit or run in any of his first three Red Sox outings, but gave up all four Astros runs in the seventh, including Jose Altuve’s game-tying two-run Green Monster homer.

“The little man got a sweeper in his nitro-zone, and that’s what he does,” Cora said of Altuve. “After that, we weren’t able to slow them down.”

Between Sims and Kelly, the only Red Sox reliever who wasn’t charged with a run, the Astros collected five consecutive singles, including RBI knocks by Jon Singleton and Jeremy Peña, which put Houston in front for the first time since the top of the first.

The Astros tacked on another three in the top of the ninth. Bregman’s leadoff double prompted Cora to swap Garcia out for Booser, who promptly gave up an RBI double to Alvarez and two-run homer to Diaz. Peña and Zach Dezenzo threatened with back-to-back singles before Booser could escape the inning.

While Astros faltered against the starter and feasted on the bullpen, the Red Sox had the opposite problem. After out-hitting their guests in the early frames, Houston quickly eclipsed Boston in the hit column after Houck’s departure.

Boston tallied just six hits, including multiple knocks for Jarren Duran (2 for 4, double, run, walk, stolen base, strikeout) and Nick Sogard, who became the first Red Sox rookie to reach base in each of his first six big league games since Rafael Devers in 2017. In his first game at Fenway, the switch-hitting rookie started at second, moved to shortstop late in the game, collected his first big league stolen base and double, scored twice, drew a walk and struck out.

Boston was 1 for 12 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base. They threatened in the bottom of the seventh, countering three separate Houston relievers with a trio of pinch-hitters. They loaded the bases on a pair of pinch-hit walks by Romy Gonzalez and Enmanuel Valdez with Duran singling in between, then watched as Tayler Scott got Devers swinging on three straight pitches.

The Red Sox made one last short-lived rally attempt in the ninth. Duran and Rob Refsnyder led off with a pair of walks, and with Houston out of mound visits, Ryan Pressly had to figure it out himself. After allowing Duran to score, he did.

“We used everybody today and we had a lot of opportunities,” Cora said.

In fact, no other American League team has had more opportunities than the Red Sox, who stand atop the league with 1,222 plate appearances with runners in scoring position, but rank ninth in batting average (.254) in those spots.

With only 48 games left in the regular-season schedule, opportunities are dwindling fast. And despite electric energy from the Fenway Faithful all season long, the 61-53 Red Sox are only 27-29 at home.

Josh Winckowski will be the opener for Saturday’s game.