BOSTON (AP) — Boston Red Sox right-hander Tanner Houck’s attempt to come back this season is over.
Manager Alex Cora said Saturday that Houck will undergo Tommy John surgery.
An All-Star last season, the 29-year-old Houck went on the injured list in mid-May with a right flexor strain after going 0-3 with an 8.04 ERA in nine starts.
“Tanner’s going to have Tommy John surgery,” Cora said before the Red Sox beat the Houston Astros 7-3 at Fenway Park.
“He went to see Dr. Meister there in Texas and that was the recommendation,” Cora said. “We don’t have a date yet, but he’s going to have it."
Houck had a strong 2024 season, finishing seventh in the American League with a 3.12 ERA in 30 starts, but was only able to make five rehab appearances after going on the IL.
“Tough year for him, tough year for us,” Cora said of the season-ending news. “But he’ll kill the rehab, he’ll do his job, and when he comes back, he’s going to be OK.”
Houck earned his first All-Star appearance by going 8-6 with a 2.54 ERA in the first half. He struggled after the break, going 1-4 with a 4.23 ERA.
He worked an inning at the All-Star Game in Texas last year, giving up three hits including a homer to Shohei Ohtani.
“A year ago I was at the All-Star game and now this year, going under the knife again, unfortunately. It's just a mater of time of putting the pieces back together, coming back stronger and just getting back out there,” Houck said Sunday morning in Boston's clubhouse. “I know the minimum (to return) is probably around the 12-month mark, 12-to-14 month mark. With that being said, if everything goes right, 12 months from now, I plan on being back out there, running out to the mound at Fenway."
He's the third Boston starting pitcher to suffer a season-ending injury. Hunter Dobbins tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee covering first base last month and Kutter Crawford underwent right wrist surgery.
The team hopes the pickup of righty Dustin May at the trade deadline from the Los Angeles Dodgers will bolster the staff. He’s expected to make his first start for the Red Sox on Wednesday at Fenway.
“It was definitely a ride of emotions, up and down,” said May, sitting in the dugout on Saturday of being dealt to Boston. “Sad leaving because I've been there my whole career, but very, very excited to be joining this organization.”
May knew his days as a starter with the Dodgers were likely coming to an end this season with a few starters expected to come off the injured list.
“I was kid of pushed out,” he said. “We've got quite a few guys there in that organization. I couldn't be more excited and thrilled to be here and be a part of it.”
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FILE - Boston Red Sox pitcher Tanner Houck walks to the dugout after being pulled against the Detroit Tigers in the third inning during a baseball game, May 12, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado was at the White House on Thursday discussing her country's future with President Donald Trump even after he publicly dismissed her credibility to take over after an audacious U.S. military raid captured then-President Nicolás Maduro.
Trump has raised doubts about his stated commitment to backing democratic rule in Venezuela. His administration has signaled its willingness to work with acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who was Maduro’s vice president and, along with others in the deposed leader’s inner circle, remains in charge of day-to-day governmental operations.
In endorsing Rodríguez so far, Trump has sidelined Machado, who has long been a face of resistance in Venezuela and sought to cultivate relationships with Trump and key administration voices like Secretary of State Marco Rubio among the American right wing in a gamble to ally herself with the U.S. government.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump was expecting a positive discussion during the lunchtime meeting and called Machado “a remarkable and brave voice” for the people of Venezuela.
The White House said Machado sought the face-to-face meeting without setting expectations for what would occur. Her party is widely believed to have won 2024 elections rejected by Maduro. Machado previously offered to share with Trump the Nobel Peace Prize she won last year, an honor he has coveted.
Leavitt said Trump is committed to seeing Venezuela hold elections “one day,” but wouldn’t say when that might happen.
Machado plans to have a meeting at the Senate later Thursday. Trump has called her “a nice woman” while indicating they might not touch on major issues in their talks Thursday.
Her Washington swing began after U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea seized another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says had ties to Venezuela. It is part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil after U.S. forces seized Maduro and his wife at a heavily guarded compound in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas and brought them to New York to stand trial on drug trafficking charges.
The White House says Venezuela has been fully cooperating with the Trump administration since Maduro’s ouster.
Rodríguez, the acting president, herself has adopted a less strident position toward Trump and his “America First” policies toward the Western Hemisphere, saying she plans to continue releasing prisoners detained under Maduro — a move thought to have been made at the behest of the Trump administration. Venezuela released several Americans this week.
Trump, a Republican, said Wednesday that he had a “great conversation” with Rodríguez, their first since Maduro was ousted.
“We had a call, a long call. We discussed a lot of things,” Trump said during an Oval Office bill signing. “And I think we’re getting along very well with Venezuela.”
Even before indicating the willingness to work with Venezuela's interim government, Trump was quick to snub Machado. Just hours after Maduro's capture, Trump said of Machado that “it would be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country.”
Machado has steered a careful course to avoid offending Trump, notably after winning last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, which Trump wanted to win himself. She has since thanked Trump. Her offer to share the peace prize with him was rejected by the Nobel Institute.
Machado’s whereabouts have been largely unknown since she went into hiding early last year after being briefly detained in Caracas. She briefly reappeared in Oslo, Norway, in December after her daughter received the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf.
The industrial engineer and daughter of a steel magnate began challenging the ruling party in 2004, when the nongovernmental organization she co-founded, Súmate, promoted a referendum to recall then-President Hugo Chávez. The initiative failed, and Machado and other Súmate executives were charged with conspiracy.
A year later, she drew the anger of Chávez and his allies again for traveling to Washington to meet President George W. Bush. A photo showing her shaking hands with Bush in the Oval Office lives in the collective memory. Chávez considered Bush an adversary.
Almost two decades later, she marshaled millions of Venezuelans to reject Chávez’s successor, Maduro, for another term in the 2024 election. But ruling party-loyal electoral authorities declared him the winner despite ample credible evidence to the contrary. Ensuing anti-government protests ended in a brutal crackdown by state security forces.
Garcia Cano reported from Caracas, Venezuela, and Janetsky from Mexico City. AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
FILE - U.S. President George Bush, right, meets with Maria Corina Machado, executive director of Sumate, a non-governmental organization that defends Venezuelan citizens' political rights, in the Oval Office of the White House, Washington, May 31, 2005. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)
FILE - Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gestures to supporters during a protest against President Nicolas Maduro the day before his inauguration for a third term, in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, file)
