ANAHEIM — After the last of Tanner Houck’s lethal sliders froze Jo Adell for the biggest out of Tuesday night’s 6-5 victory in 10 innings over the Angels, the righty pumped his fist and shouted, “Let’s go!” on his way back from the dugout.
With some recently grown facial hair forming perhaps the beginning of a handlebar mustache, Houck is even starting to look the part of high-leverage reliever.
“I had a lot of fun in that situation. It gets the blood boiling a little bit. Heart rate up. Living in the moment,” said Houck.
Backed by Houck’s big moment, the surging Red Sox ripped off their sixth win in a row and 15th in the last 20 and in the process handed the Angels a 13th straight loss.
A Boston bullpen that has had issues for much of the season is starting to get some things figured out as roles get more settled.
And one thing that’s becoming apparent is that Houck and his wipeout slider and 95 mph heat will be ever-present in the most crucial situations.
“That’s what we’re looking for,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “We’re going to use him in high-leverage situations and will try to avoid the three-inning, four-inning stints. Maximum, he’ll go two.”
Houck did that maximum duty on Tuesday — the eighth and ninth. He punched out three and left the potential walk-off run on second base after Tyler Wade’s leadoff double in the ninth.
The late innings are always best for pitchers who feed off adrenaline. And Houck clearly fits in that category.
“You’ve got to ask him. But he loves it,” said Cora.
That was confirmed by a visit to Houck’s locker after the game.
“I’m excited for it. Any time I can get the ball and go out there and pitch, I’m always going to be excited for that,” said Houck. “I love being out there. I love being able to compete.”
Houck threw 30 pitches and got five whiffs, all of them on sliders.
“Yeah, everybody knows how his slider is,” said catcher Christian Vázquez. “It’s a sweep slider. Tough to hit. And then you see 95 on the fastball, [it looks] harder. It was fun.”
The season started with Houck in the rotation. And then he flip-flopped roles with his best friend, Garrett Whitlock, and was mainly used as a piggy-back option for a few weeks.
Those days are over, as Houck will now be called on with the game hanging in the balance.
“Kind of like the way we used Garrett last year,” said Cora. “He’s been throwing the ball great for us, and obviously with traffic he did an outstanding job, maneuvering the lineup, and his stuff is really good late in games and that was really good for us.”
Houck’s standout performance was the highlight of an all-around satisfying night for the Red Sox.
Here are a couple of other things that stood out.
Mr. Clutch stays hot
On a Boston team that includes heavy hitters like Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers, J.D. Martinez and Trevor Story, Vázquez can be an afterthought.
But with the game on the line, Vázquez has come through on many occasions over the last several seasons. The latest example was the top of the 10th inning on Tuesday when he rifled a single through the hole at second base and into right for an RBI single that scored automatic runner Story for the decisive run.
“I love those situations,” said Vázquez. “Somebody needs to do it, so why not me? I think the blood is going fast. I like that. It’s fun.”
In his last 12 games, Vázquez has a line of .362/.400/.553 with 12 RBIs.
Don’t sell Kiké short
For the first time in his career, Kiké Hernández has finally settled into one position in center field rather than moving all over the place.
But when Bogaerts had to exit the game in the ninth inning with left shoulder tightness, Hernández moved to shortstop.
With two outs in the 10th, Kurt Suzuki hit one behind the bag at second that would have tied the game if it had gone through. But Hernández ranged over to make the stop and fired to first to end the game.
“Unreal,” said Cora. “Actually in the dugout when he hit, I screamed ‘Kiké!’, and he made the play. It’s who he is. You move him around and he makes plays. That wasn’t an easy play, and he gets to it, he makes a great throw. And he didn’t do much at shortstop in Spring Training, he hasn’t done much in the infield throughout the season, but whenever we need him, we know we can count on him and that was an outstanding play.”