4 takeaways as Tanner Houck’s perfect start, 9th inning rally move Red Sox step closer to playoffs

The Red Sox are a win away from clinching a playoff berth.

They defeated the Nationals 5-3 on Saturday. Here’s what happened, who’s the player of the game, and takeaways from Saturday’s game.

The big picture

Saturday’s game had quite the show.

The only run initially came in the fourth inning when Rafael Devers hit a solo shot to right-center.

Tanner Houck started and threw five perfect innings for the Red Sox. However, the Red Sox decided to pull him when his turn to hit came up in the sixth.

The Nationals finally threatened to score in the seventh, loading the bases up. The Red Sox got out of it though with a called strike three looking to Jordy Mercer, who was ejected for arguing right after.

The Red Sox took their turn to load the bases up in the eighth. But they didn’t get anything out of it after Devers struck out swinging.

In the bottom half of the same inning, the Nationals once again loaded the bases due to Red Sox miscues (more on that in a bit). Juan Soto appeared to hit a grand slam off the bat, but his fly ball to center ended up falling short. It was deep enough though to score the runner from third and tie the game on a sacrifice fly.

After getting out of the inning without allowing another run, J.D. Martinez started the ninth with a walk. Jose Iglesias pinch-ran for him, but consecutive strikeouts didn’t allow him to advance until Christian Vázquez hit a tie-breaking triple, scoring Iglesias from first. Travis Shaw followed up with an RBI single and Kiké Hernández put the exclamation point on with a two-run homer to left.

Andrew Stevenson cut into the Red Sox’ lead with a two-run homer in the night. But Hansel Robles was able to finish off the Nationals, moving the Red Sox closer to the playoffs.

Player of the game

Tanner Houck – 5 innings pitched, 8 strikeouts, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks.

When your starting pitcher throws five perfect innings, it’s hard to get a better performance than that. It also ended up being a much-needed outing as the Red Sox’ bats scored just one run in the first eight innings.

Houck couldn’t have looked much better, either. Of the 15 outs he made, more than half were strikeouts (eight) and only one out was a fly out into the outfield. He almost allowed a runner on a wild pitch strike three, but Andrew Stevenson was hit by the ball after he swung-and-miss, making him out.

Of Houck’s eight strikeouts, five came from Nationals hitters whiffing at Houck’s slider. For as up-and-down as Houck’s starts have been this season, Saturday’s performance was certainly a good note to an end on for the regular season.

What it means

The Red Sox moved into the top wild-card spot in the American League with Saturday’s win. They control their own playoff destiny entering the final of the regular season, meaning a win would clinch them the top wild-card spot.

Boston entered the day sitting in the second spot, but it moved up after New York fell to Tampa earlier in the day. The Blue Jays handled their own business, defeating the Orioles. With their win, the Blue Jays remain a game behind the Red Sox and are still in play for a wild-card spot.

The Mariners take on the Angels later Saturday. Seattle must win in order to keep its playoff hopes alive. If the Mariners do win, they also sit just a game behind the Red Sox and Yankees.

At the very least, the Red Sox will play in a playoff game to reach the Wild Card Game.

Takeaways

1. It’s pretty clear that the Red Sox still don’t trust Houck to last long in his starts.

On Saturday, Houck threw just 53 pitches over five innings. However, because they’re in a National League ballpark, pitchers must hit. So, when Houck’s turn to hit came up in the sixth, Alex Cora decided to pinch-hit him for Christian Arroyo with the Red Sox holding just a 1-0 lead.

Part of that is on Houck, who allowed three earned runs in less than five innings pitched in each of his last two starts. But his longest outing of the year was 5 1/3 innings pitched, which came against the Indians on Aug. 29. In that game, Houck made his way through the Indians’ lineup twice without allowing a run before unraveling in the sixth inning when he faced the order for a third time.

But Cora said it wasn’t because of where he was in facing the Nationals order. Instead, it was about his workload.

“For us, it was enough,” Cora said of Houck’s performance. “Five innings and what he did the other day in Baltimore and you add that – this guy’s very important to us. Not only today, but he’ll be important for us in the upcoming days.”

2. With no DH again on Saturday, the Red Sox opted to make their lineup offense-heavy by playing Kiké Hernández at second again and Kyle Schwarber at first. Those decisions nearly cost them.

In the seventh, Schwarber’s inexperience at first showed. Andrew Stevenson hit a routine groundball to Schwarber. With Stevenson picking up speed while running toward the base, Schwarber likely wouldn’t have beaten him there. He could’ve tagged him out though or tossed the ball over to Ryan Brasier, who was running over to cover the base.

Schwarber was indecisive though, tossing the ball in a weird way that caused Brasier to midfield it and load the bases. Luckily for Schwarber, Brasier was able to strike out the next hitter to end the inning.

The issue came up again in the eighth. With Hernández playing second base again on Saturday, Hunter Renfroe shifted to center again. Ryan Zimmerman hit a routine flyball to center, but Renfroe lost sight of the ball, which fell before he could get to it in shallow center. Zimmerman reached second base on the play, jump-starting the inning in which he later scored.

3. The Red Sox’ hitting in key spots wasn’t so clutch, until it was.

Schwarber hit a first-inning double and move to third on a wild pitch. Xander Bogaerts got on board with a walk, but the inning ended when Rafael Devers hit into a double play.

After hitting a solo homer in the fourth, Devers again had an at-bat with a runner in scoring position in the sixth. But he hit into a pop-out to end the inning.

Devers again had a chance with runners in scoring position to break open the game. Three straight walks loaded the bases for him and he was able to get a full count in his at-bat. However, he couldn’t hit the fastball in the corner of the strike zone, striking out to end the inning.

With Devers unable to get a hit in the Red Sox’ only chances with runners in scoring position, the bottom of the order stepped up to give the Red Sox the lead. Christian Vázquez, who was hitting .130 over the last two weeks entering Saturday, became the unlikely hero when he hit a tie-breaking triple to score Jose Iglesias from first. The triple was his first of the season.

Travis Shaw, who’s been relegated to the bench for much of the last two weeks, added an insurance run before Hernández added to it with a two-run homer.

4. Hansel Robles continues to impress out of the bullpen. The trade deadline acquisition had some poor outings in his first month in Boston.

But September was a solid month for the righty. He didn’t allow a run in 12 outings in September. He also allowed just five hits and a walk over 10 2/3 innings pitched.

Robles’s number was called in the ninth after Stevenson’s two-run homer cut the Red Sox’ lead to 5-3. Robles got the next two hitters out, allowed a walk to Ryan Zimmerman, and got Lane Thomas to pop out to end the game.

It was Robles’s 14th save in 16 opportunities this season. He hasn’t blown a save with the Red Sox yet, potentially making him the right fit for the vacant cloing role.

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