Tanner Houck taking things in stride for Red Sox

"Stay with my routine between starts and don't look too far in the future," he said on Thursday before the Sox beat the Marlins, 6-5, in 12 innings . "Just worry about what I have to do and not get caught up in the rewards and accolades."

Houck is 3-2 with a 2.06 ERA in 12 career games against the Yankees, seven of them starts. He has not faced New York since last Sept. 14 when he pitched six innings in a game the Sox went on to win, 5-0.

Houck is coming off a rare ragged start. He allowed eight runs, seven earned, on nine hits against the Padres on Saturday in an 11-1 loss .

Alex Cora thought the poor outing was partially a product of the Padres being a difficult team to game plan against.

"[Houck] is going to be OK," Cora said.

Houck didn't identify any issues other than poorly locating his pitches.

"I need to get back to trusting my strengths," he said. "I don't need to reinvent the wheel."

The Sox were 121⁄2 games behind the first-place Yankees on June 8. The Yankees are now in second place with the Sox 51⁄2 behind them.

"We're gaining ground, it happened fast," Cora said.

Aaron Judge is off to a Ruthian start to the season, hitting .314 with 32 homers, 83 RBIs, and a 1.135 OPS.

"Very similar to [ back in the day. He's not missing his pitches," Cora said. "He's hitting the ball in the air. He's a special talent, he is. What he's doing right now, he's second to none in the big leagues."

Judge was 3 for 12 with a double, a homer, and two RBIs from June 14-16 at Fenway Park when the Sox took two of three from the Yankees.

That counted as success against Judge.

"I still believe we can attack him. We can get him out," Cora said. "But obviously he's taking advantage of mistakes. Especially at Yankee Stadium, he can hit the ball to right field and it's a home run.

"Nothing changes for us. We need to get ahead and stay ahead."

Judge is 3 for 9 against Houck with a walk and two strikeouts.

"Can't back down," Houck said. "You have to challenge him, but with good pitches."

Jarren Duran started his 86th consecutive game. He is the first Sox player to do that since Mo Vaughn started the first 99 games of the 1996 season.

Duran has 21 stolen bases in his 86 games. You won't be surprised to learn the Hit Dog didn't have any. But he did have 18 homers and 64 RBIs. Duran has 10 homers and 40 RBIs.

Duran is aiming to become the first Sox player to appear in all 162 games since Bill Buckner in 1985.

Connor Wong struck out twice in extra innings to end his hit streak at 17 games ... The Sox are 20-11 in day games and 27-28 at night for whatever that is worth. Cora suggested the team's youth is a factor ... The beleaguered Marlins made a series of roster moves after using their bullpen for 10 innings in the first two games of the series. Righthander Matt Andriese was selected from Triple A Jacksonville, as was infielder Jonah McBride. Righthander Anthony Maldonado was optioned to Triple A and infielder Otto Lopez was placed on the 10-day injured list with back inflammation. Andriese appeared in 26 games for the Sox in 2021. He was the first free agent signed to a major league contract by Chaim Bloom.