It was a terrifying moment when Tanner Houck exited Friday night’s game in the fifth inning.
The 26-year-old right-hander had taken a line drive to the face, and though he was able to walk off the field on his own and never lost consciousness, there’d be little comfort without an official diagnosis.
On Saturday evening, the Red Sox provided an update.
“Tanner Houck was evaluated last night at Mass General Hospital. He suffered a facial fracture but is currently resting at home in stable condition. Follow-up appointments next week will determine next steps and a treatment plan,” the team announced.
Though the game and numbers are trivial in such situations, Houck deserves to have pointed out that he was having one of his best starts of the season on Friday night. Over four innings, he held the Yankees to four hits and just one earned run, issued one walk, and struck out two. He’d only thrown 59 pitches when the injury occurred.
Sources also tell the Herald that the right-hander will likely be placed on the 15-day injured list in the near future. Houck is the second Red Sox pitcher sidelined by a Yankees line drive in the last calendar year; a 106.7 mph Aaron Hicks comebacker fractured Chris Sale’s pinky last July.
All things considered, Houck is “lucky,” as his manager told reporters on Friday night. But Red Sox fans, especially those old enough to remember what happened to Tony Conigliaro in 1967, are likely to reserve judgment until the young pitcher returns.
Heavy rain forced the Red Sox and Yankees to postpone their Saturday evening contest. Instead, they’ll play a doubleheader on Sunday, with Game 1 at 1:35 p.m. Game 2 will remain at the original time, 7:10 p.m.
Brayan Bello, who was scheduled to start Saturday’s game, will pitch in the second game on Sunday. The first game’s starter is TBD.
According to several reports, the Red Sox’s academy in the Dominican Republic was robbed early Saturday morning.
“Between 2AM and 4AM a group of armed men entered the Red Sox academy in the Dominican Republic and stole equipment (Gloves, bats, balls, etc),” tweeted Héctor Gómez of Dominican radio station ‘Z101 Digital.’ His post received a quote-tweet from Alex Cora; the Red Sox manager simply added several angry emojis to indicate his sentiments.
“Thieves looted a @Red Sox academy,” ESPN’s Enrique Rojas wrote in Spanish. He also called for heightened security at such facilities, adding, “With the investment that MLB clubs make in the DR, the minimum they should receive is adequate protection from authorities.”
Red Sox executive vice president and assistant GM Eddie Romero told ESPN Deportes that in addition to “quite a lot of sports equipment” stolen from the facility, the thieves took “material from the administrative offices.”
The longtime Red Sox exec also confirmed that this is the second robbery at their DR academy in the last two years, and discussed the ongoing issue, which has impacted several other MLB organizations, including the Cincinnati Reds, Baltimore Orioles, and Texas Rangers.
Thankfully, Romero confirmed that no personnel were present when the “looting” took place, but made a public plea for “the support of the authorities for us to secure our complex.”
“We make a lot of investment in the country, signing baseball players, developing them there,” he said. “We have to have that peace of mind for the guys we have there.”
(All quotes translated from Spanish.)
After Sunday’s doubleheader, the Red Sox hit the road for a weeklong trip to the midwest. They’ll visit the Minnesota Twins for four games, then spend the weekend playing a three-game series against the Chicago White Sox and old friend, Andrew Benintendi.
Probable pitchers for the Twins series are James Paxton, Kutter Crawford, and Garrett Whitlock, in that order.