Red Sox Wrap: Tanner Houck Shelled, Takes Loss On Birthday

BOSTON — The Red Sox dropped their series with the San Diego Padres on Saturday, suffering a 11-1 loss in the middle game of their trio at Fenway Park.

Boston fell to 43-39 with the defeat, while San Diego improved to 46-41.

Check out the full box score here.

ONE BIG TAKEAWAY
Tanner Houck’s candidacy to be the starting pitcher for the American League in the 2024 MLB All-Star game took a hit Saturday.

It was actually much closer to a death blow.

Houck just didn’t have it, barely making it into the fifth inning before being put out of his misery. The Padres put seven runs on the board against the 28-year-old, clearing the Green Monster three times and chasing him from the game earlier than anyone has all season. It quite literally doesn’t get any worse than what happened during Houck’s birthday outing.

Oh yeah… did we mention it was his birthday?

Boston’s offense didn’t do much of anything to help out, scoring just one run on the afternoon, but there wasn’t much hope at all with the way Houck looked.

Dominic Smith ended the game on the mound for Boston. It was that bad.

STARS OF THE GAME
— Manny Machado blasted a pair of home runs Saturday, prompting some of the loudest boos you’ll hear at Fenway Park this season. He finished with five RBIs.

— Jarren Duran belted a solo home run into the visiting bullpen in the sixth inning, improving his case to be an All-Star.

— Jackson Merrill grew up rooting for the Red Sox, but you wouldn’t know it with the way he’s killed them this weekend. He went 3-for-5 on Saturday, adding another home run and two RBIs to his series total.

UP NEXT
The Red Sox will wrap their three-game set against the Padres on Sunday. It’ll be the final meeting between the two clubs this season, with first pitch scheduled for 1:35 p.m. ET, following an hour of pregame coverage on NESN.