4 takeaways as the Red Sox move closer to the playoffs

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

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

The Nationals eventually threatened to score in the seventh, charging up the bases. The Red Sox came off with a third strike called in to find Jordy Mercer, who was sent off for arguing right after.

The Red Sox took their turn to charge the bases in the eighth. But they didn’t get anything out of it after Devers hit the swing.

In the lower half of the same set, the Nationals again loaded goals due to Red Sox mistakes (we’ll get to that in a moment). Juan Soto appeared to hit a grand slam from the start, but his flying ball in the middle ended up failing. It was deep enough to mark the runner in third place and tie the game on a sacrifice fly.

After coming out of the set without allowing another run, JD Martinez started the ninth with a walk. Jose Iglesias ran for him, but consecutive strikeouts kept him from advancing until Christian Vázquez had a decisive triple, scoring Iglesias from the first. Travis Shaw followed up with a single RBI and Kiké Hernández put the exclamation mark with a two-run homerun to the left.

Andrew Stevenson reduced the Red Sox’s lead with a two-run homerun overnight. But Hansel Robles managed to finish the national championships, bringing the Red Sox closer to the playoffs.

Game player

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 turned out to be a well-deserved outing, as the Red Sox sticks have scored just one run in the first eight innings.

Houck couldn’t have looked better either. Of the 15 strikeouts he made, more than half were strikeouts (eight) and only one out was a volley into the outfield. He almost allowed a runner on a wild throw to hit three, but Andrew Stevenson was hit by the ball after he swung and missed, knocking him out.

Of Houck’s eight strikeouts, five were from Nationals hitters who were sniffing out Houck’s slider. Despite the ups and downs of Houck’s starts this season, Saturday’s performance was certainly a good mark to end the regular season.

What this means

The Red Sox rose to the No. 1 wildcard in the American League with Saturday’s victory. They control their own playoff destiny as they step into the regular season finals, which means that a win would see them clinch first place in the wild cards.

Boston entered the day sitting in second, but moved up after New York fell to Tampa earlier in the day. The Blue Jays ran their own business, beating the Orioles. With their victory, the Blue Jays remain one game behind the Red Sox and are still on the line for a wild card spot.

The Mariners face the Angels later Saturday. Seattle needs to win to keep their playoff hopes alive. If the Mariners win, they are also just one game away from the Red Sox and Yankees.

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

Take away food

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 shots in five innings. However, since they are in a National League stadium, the hitters must pitch. So when Houck’s turn to strike came in the sixth, Alex Cora decided to pinch him for Christian Arroyo, with the Red Sox having only a 1-0 lead.

Part of that goes to Houck, who has 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, against the Indians on August 29. In that game, Houck worked his way through the Indian lineup twice without allowing a run before collapsing in the sixth inning when he faced order for the third time.

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

“For us that 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 is very important to us. Not only today, but it will be important for us in the coming days.

2. Without DH yet on Saturday, the Red Sox chose to make their roster heavy by once again facing Kiké Hernández in second place and Kyle Schwarber in first. These decisions almost cost them dearly.

In the seventh, Schwarber’s inexperience first showed itself. Andrew Stevenson hit a routine ground ball at Schwarber. With Stevenson picking up speed by running towards the base, Schwarber probably wouldn’t have beaten him there. However, he could have touched it or thrown the ball to Ryan Brasier, who was running to cover the base.

Schwarber was undecided, however, throwing the ball in an odd way that caused Brasier to place him in midfield and charge the bases. Luckily for Schwarber, Brasier was able to put out the next batter on strikes to end the inning.

The question came back in eighth. With Hernández playing second goal again on Saturday, Hunter Renfroe moved to center again. Ryan Zimmerman hit a routine flyball down the center, but Renfroe lost sight of the ball, which fell before he could reach it in the shallow center. Zimmerman hit the second goal of the game, kicking off the inning in which he later scored.

3. The Red Sox’s strikes in key places weren’t that eye-catching, until they were.

Schwarber had a brace in the first set and moved up to the third on a wild pitch. Xander Bogaerts got on board with a walk, but the inning ended when Rafael Devers hit a double play.

After hitting a solo homerun in the fourth quarter, Devers was again at bat with a runner in scoring position in the sixth. But he hit in a pop-out to end the round.

Devers again had a chance with runners in scoring position to open the game. Three consecutive goals loaded the goals for him and he was able to get a full count in his batting. However, he couldn’t hit the fastball into the corner of the strike zone, striking out to end the inning.

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

Travis Shaw, who has been relegated to the bench for much of the past two weeks, added an insurance point before Hernández added a two-run homer.

4. Hansel Robles continues to impress outside the bullpen. The trade deadline acquisition had some bad outings in its first month in Boston.

But September was a solid month for righties. He did not allow a run in 12 outings in September. He also allowed just five hits and one walk in 10 2/3 innings pitched.

Robles’ number was called in the ninth after Stevenson’s two-run homerun reduced the Red Sox’s lead to 5-3. Robles took out the next two hitters, allowed Ryan Zimmerman to walk, and knocked out Lane Thomas to end the game.

It was Robles’ 14th save on 16 occasions this season. He has yet to make a stop with the Red Sox, potentially making him the right fit for the vacant closing role.