Red Sox cut Tanner Houck before important Yankees game

The Boston Red Sox were ready to hand the ball to Tanner Houck in a crucial road game against the New York Yankees on Friday night.

But Houck, who hadn't pitched since Sept. 4 and whose start was pushed back to Friday after he struggled with what Alex Cora described as a dead arm, was pulled from his start less than an hour before the first pitch at Yankee Stadium. The Red Sox announced that Houck was pulled because of right shoulder fatigue.

It was good that the Red Sox had an additional starting pitcher on the active roster to call on, as Richard Fitts will be making his second appearance in his MLB career.

Houck hasn't looked the same in the second half of the season after his first career All-Star appearance. The veteran right-hander is 0-4 with a 4.78 ERA and a 1.462 WHIP in nine starts since the All-Star break.

It's clear he's exhausted from the biggest workload of his career. Houck has thrown 169 2/3 innings this season, which is a career high and far exceeds the 106 frames he threw in 2023.

Fitts, ranked as the 13th-ranked prospect in Boston's farm system by MLB Pipeline, made his MLB debut last Sunday against the Chicago White Sox. He performed well, throwing 5 2/3 innings and allowing no earned runs and six hits while allowing one walk and two strikeouts.

It will be an interesting task for Fitts to face the Yankees, as they are the organization that drafted the 24-year-old right-hander in the sixth round of the 2021 draft. The Yankees traded Fitts along with two other pitchers to the Red Sox this offseason and acquired Alex Verdugo, who will bat ninth in New York's lineup.