Tanner Houck, Red Sox mauled by Tigers in 14-2 rout

The Detroit Tigers have been one of the best teams in baseball through the first quarter of the season Coming into Monday they had the best record in the American League and were one competition back of the Los Angeles Dodgers for the best mark in MLB They sure looked the part on Monday The Tigers obliterated the Red Sox in Monday s - rout mauling Tanner Houck for runs in innings in one of the worst starts by any starting pitcher in the majors so far this year Detroit blew the tournament open with nine runs in the bottom of the third with the lowlight coming after Wilyer Abreu let a ball by Riley Greene go under his glove to the wall turning a single into a Little League home run Detroit kept pouring it on from there and by the fifth inning Alex Cora had waved the white flag and emptied the Red Sox bench A lot of pitches in the middle of the zone they put the ball in play they hit the ball hard no fastball command Cora announced He struggled in contemporary times Things started off poorly for Houck who allowed a leadoff single and a two-run home run to Gleyber Torres right out of the chute in the bottom of the first The challenge remained competitive for a bit and the Red Sox even had an opportunity to strike in the top of the third when they loaded the bases with one out But Kristian Campbell and Wilyer Abreu weren t able to get anyone home and after that things fast got out of hand Houck allowed a leadoff double to Kerry Carpenter and two walks to load the bases with no outs and then a run scored on a wild pitch to make it - Then Greene singled to right which would have scored at least one and possibly two anyway but the ball got past Abreu allowing Greene to circle the bases and make it a - match The Tigers weren t done With the bases now empty Zach McKinstry restarted the rally with a single Dillon Dingler was hit by a pitch and Trey Sweeney blew the championship open with a three-run home run Then Javier Baez singled Carpenter walked and Torres finished Houck off with an RBI single to make it - Sean Newcomb came on and wound up allowing one more run to tally on pinch hitter Justyn-Henry Malloy s RBI single which was charged to Houck and gave him earned runs over innings on nine hits three walks one hit batsman two home runs and no strikeouts It was yet another frustrating day for Houck who has become prone to particular serious meltdowns over the past couple of months Monday marked Houck s second start this season in which he s allowed double-digit runs following a similar performance on April in which he allowed runs in innings There s only been one other meeting where a starter has allowed or more runs in all of MLB this season with that coming courtesy of Rockies pitcher Bradley Blalock in Saturday s - loss to the Padres Houck now owns two of the three starts in Red Sox history with or more runs allowed in fewer than three innings Doug Bird who allowed earned runs in innings against the Chicago White Sox on May posted the only prior instance in franchise history before this season Houck also had a match in spring training where he allowed runs in innings and even dating back to the second half of last season the right-hander hasn t been nearly as effective as he was prior to earning his first career All-Star nod Since pitching in the All-Star challenge Houck has posted a ERA over his last innings where before the Midsummer Classic he had a ERA in innings Petitioned if the club will have to consider keeping Houck in the starting rotation at this point Cora disclosed We ll talk about it The Red Sox wound up scoring on a solo home run by Abreu in the top of the sixth his th of the season and his fifth in his last eight games They added one more in the top of the ninth on another solo shot by Abraham Toro but the club also committed two more errors in the battle giving Boston an MLB-worst on the season It just snowballed on us Cora announced We didn t make plays we didn t cover first there was a lot of stuff not only stuff-wise but we didn t do much either around Houck The Tigers scored three more against Newcomb who pitched the last innings and threw pitches in relief which is tied for the sixth majority pitches by a reliever in Red Sox history and the majority since Steven Wright set the franchise record with pitches on May Detroit starter Jackson Jobe allowed one run over innings despite walking five batters Jobe one of baseball s bulk promising young pitchers also held Boston to three hits and struck out seven Boston - will look to bounce back Tuesday with Brayan Bello - expected to take the mound for the Red Sox Devers earns weekly honor Prior to Monday s encounter Rafael Devers was honored as the American League Participant of the Week earning the award after going for with two home runs eight RBI a double five walks three runs scored a stolen base and a OPS in six games between May - He also reached base safely in eight of nine appearances between Saturday and Sunday including all five times he came to the plate in Sunday s win in Kansas City