Red Sox’s Tanner Houck ‘got lucky’ after being hit in face by liner vs. Yankees

Boston Red Sox pitcher Tanner Houck went to a hospital and received stitches after he was struck in the face by a line drive during Friday’s game against the New York Yankees.

“He was conscious the whole time, so that’s good,” manager Alex Cora said after Boston’s 15-5 win. “He’s got a cut, he’s in the hospital right now getting further tests. Obviously, we’ll know more at the end of the night. But he got lucky.”

With Boston leading 10-1 in the fifth inning, New York’s Kyle Higashioka led off and fell behind 1-2 in the count, before lining Houck’s 92 mph sinker straight up the middle and hitting Houck. Cora said it cut him in his cheek area.

“He knew where he was right away, and he kept saying he was fine,” Cora said.

Houck immediately went to the ground and stayed down for a few minutes while he was attended to by athletic trainers. His face was bleeding, but he was able to get to his feet and walk off the field on his own power.

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“Just a scary moment,” teammate Justin Turner said. “To see him go down like that, not sure where it got him. But to see him get up and walk off the field, I didn’t get a chance to talk to him in the clubhouse but a couple of other guys did. He was in pretty good spirits before he went to the hospital to get some scans. I’ll check in on him. Hopefully, it’s just a few stitches and he’ll be back out there.”

He covered his nose with a towel and raised his left fist to the crowd as he walked down the steps into the dugout. Houck was replaced by Joe Jacques.

Houck allowed one run and four hits, with two strikeouts and a walk.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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