Salem duo falls out short of no-hitter

Tanner Houck was probably as surprised as anyone that he had a no-hitter going Thursday.
"Honestly, I didn't [know]," the third-ranked Red Sox prospect said. "I kind of zoned out and stayed on attack mode and continued to work in the zone. It was just one of those days. In the 'pen I struggled a little bit, then when someone got in the box, everything clicked right away."
Houck hurled six hitless innings and righty Joan Martinez took the no-no bid into the ninth before Lynchburg's Luke Wakamatsu singled with two outs. The Red Sox came away with a 6-1 win at Calvin Falwell Field.

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The 2017 first-round pick entered the game with a 2-7 record and a 6.16 ERA while Martinez had walked 20 in 16 1/3 innings. But Salem got within one out from its first no-no since Jake Dahlstrand and Joe Gunkel's seven-inning effort on April 9, 2015.
Entering Thursday, Houck had five scoreless outings since being drafted No. 24 overall last June. The right-hander tied a career high with six innings. He walked four, struck out three and threw 51 of 89 pitches for strikes.
Houck entered the game with 37 walks in 49 2/3 innings and having allowed 13 runs while issuing 12 free passes in his past 13 2/3 innings. But Thursday was a different story after he made a change in his delivery.
"We were trying to clean things up a little bit, trying to make it more repeatable," he said. "They definitely have some great ideas and I'm trying to use them in a way that feels like myself and natural and comfortable, but to a certain extent, I've also refined them. I'm a proponent of being yourself on the mound, and if you're not feeling comfortable, it might lead to a few problems."
Houck retired the game's first 11 batters, seven on ground balls, before walking three consecutive batters in the fourth. He got out of that jam, and after a walk in the fifth, retired the final four batters he faced.
The Red Sox want Houck to use a four-seam fastball more often to keep batters from sitting on his two-seamer.
"[Four-seamers] are definitely in the mix, but I'm still two-seam heavy, which goes back to what I've thrown for the past eight or nine years," he said. "But it's been a year now of throwing the four-seam and continuing to develop it and hone my craft. I threw a pretty good amount of them tonight.
"I see it as a pitch I can throw on the outer half to righties and inside to lefties and at the top of the zone, to go for strikeouts. [But] it was the two-seam and changeup tonight. I went changeup because it was a lefty-heavy lineup, and it's one of those pitches I've been trying to develop since I got into pro ball. The emphasis is continuing to develop those pitches."
Houck is also polishing his secondary pitches, including his slider.
"It's not the same curve or slider I threw in college, now it's a spike pitch," the Missouri product said. "It's not even a year yet, but it's another pitch that has come a long way from when I first started."
Houck said Salem manager Joe Oliver and pitching coach Lance Carter didn't discuss his pitch count before he exited the game, not that it would have mattered.
"For me, I'll take the ball for nine innings, if that's what they'll let me go," he said. "I compete until the manager walks over or takes the ball out of my hand. I typically stay out of [pitch-count talk]. I trust the Red Sox organization. If it's 90 to 100 pitches, if it's 70 pitches, I trust them."

Martinez kept the Hillcats off the board for 2 2/3 innings, despite walking four. Wakamatsu's hit scored Tre Gantt, who walked and reached second on defensive indifference.
Salem's offense gave Houck plenty to work with early as Tyler Hill, who had three hits, doubled to lead off the game and scored on Zach Plesac's wild pitch. The Red Sox tacked on three in the fourth on Roldani Baldwin's RBI single and a two-run single by Jerry Downs.
Salem capped the scoring in the fifth as Jordan Procyshen tripled and scored on a single by Hill, and then Hill scored on Brett Netzer's line-drive double to left.
Plesac (4-3), the nephew of former big league reliever Dan Plesac, allowed six runs on nine hits and struck out eight in five innings.