Trevor Story, Tanner Houck lead Red Sox to badly needed 2-1 win over Rays

Tanner Houck could go the rest of the year without throwing another pitch and his season would be a success. The right-hander has set a new career high in innings pitched, earned his first All-Star nod and established himself as a dependable starter, all after entering the year without any assurance he’d be in the rotation at all.

Now the only thing he has left to prove is he can make it through an entire big league season healthy, which is why his outing Wednesday was encouraging even if it was also among his shortest of the year.

After skipping two starts due to lingering shoulder fatigue, Houck took the mound on a pitch count Wednesday and was as effective as he’s been since the All-Star break. Houck allowed one run over four innings, shut down a potential Tampa Bay rally in the second and threw 42 of his 60 pitches (70%) for strikes in what wound up being a 2-1 Red Sox win.

Trevor Story led the way offensively, going 2 for 3 with a solo home run in the sixth to tie the game before stealing second and third following an infield single in the eighth to set up Jarren Duran’s game-winning RBI single.

Those performances were badly needed on a night the Red Sox frequently struggled to make contact.

Coming off an anemic effort in Tuesday’s series opener, the Red Sox offense looked helpless against Rays starter Ryan Pepiot. The 27-year-old diced the Red Sox up for 12 strikeouts over six innings, allowing only two hits with no walks over that stretch. The only damage Boston got against Pepiot was a solo home run by Trevor Story to lead off the top of the sixth, but otherwise the Rays righty was in full control.

Overall Pepiot drew 23 whiffs on 48 swings, and in the fifth inning he threw the fourth immaculate inning in Rays history, striking out Connor Wong, Wilyer Abreu and Triston Casas consecutively on three pitches each.

The Red Sox collectively struck out 14 times, one shy of their season high, and dating back to Tuesday the club’s one through five hitters have gone 3 for 39 with 16 strikeouts.

Tampa Bay took an initial 1-0 lead in the second after Josh Lowe hit a double, Jonny DeLuca was hit by a pitch and Taylor Walls delivered an RBI single off Houck. The Red Sox starter was able to avoid further damage afterwards, stranding two men on to end the threat, and held the Rays scoreless the rest of his outing.

Houck now has a 3.21 ERA on the season over 173 2/3 innings and 29 starts, both by far the highest totals of his career so far.

Neither team scored again until Story’s home run in the sixth, and once Pepiot was done the Red Sox nearly took advantage of the Rays bullpen in the seventh. Tyler O’Neill drew a leadoff walk off reliever Drew Rasmussen and moved to third on a single by Wong. That set the table for Casas, who crushed a deep fly ball to left that nearly got out, but held up just enough for Rays outfielder Christopher Morel to make an incredible leaping grab against the wall to save what would have been a sure two-run double.

The embattled Red Sox bullpen, which has totally collapsed over the course of the second half, enjoyed one of its best days in recent memory to keep the game in hand. Zach Penrod, Cooper Criswell, Justin Slaten, Chris Martin and Kenley Jansen combined for five scoreless innings, with Slaten in particular coming up big in the seventh by striking out Walls and Yandy Diaz with the go-ahead run at third base.

After Story and Duran gave Boston a 2-1 lead in the eighth, Martin and Jansen did their jobs to lock things down, though not without some drama in the ninth. Jansen recorded two quick outs before appearing to tweak his back, after which he walked the next two batters, who moved into scoring position on a double steal. At that point the Rays could have walked it off with a base hit, but Jansen was able to strike out Logan Driscoll to end the game and notch his 27th save of the season.