NEW YORK – Less than an hour before first pitch on Friday night, the Red Sox announced that Tanner Houck was being scratched from his scheduled start with “right shoulder fatigue.”

Houck last pitched on Sept. 4, when the Red Sox were in New York playing the Mets. He went five innings, struck out seven, and issued one walk, but allowed four earned runs on five hits.

Over 28 starts in his first All-Star season, Houck has a 3.24 ERA and 1.167 WHIP, with 150 strikeouts over 169 2/3 innings. He’s already blown past his previous career-highs in starts, innings, and strikeouts.

In two starts against the Yankees this year, Houck posted a 3.86 ERA over 9 1/3 innings. The Yankees hit .212 against him with a .630 OPS.

Richard Fitts started instead. The right-hander, 24, was among the pitching prospects acquired from the Yankees in the Alex Verdugo trade last December. The Red Sox called Fitts up last Sunday, and he made his MLB debut against the Chicago White Sox.

In addition to the concerning late scratch of Houck, there are implications for the Boston bullpen. Key arms, including Justin Slaten, Chris Martin, and closer Kenley Jansen, each pitched an inning in Thursday night’s series opener. The Red Sox also used Cam Booser, Zack Kelly, and Josh Winckowski. On Friday afternoon, when Houck was still slated to start, Manager Alex Cora said they planned to use Fitts in a relief role.

Instead, the Red Sox will rely on the rookie Fitts, who will have to find a way to shut down some of the most powerful bats in baseball in just his second career start.

• Cora said Thursday the Red Sox were “probably” going to shut reliever Liam Hendriks down due to forearm soreness, which would effectively end his chance at pitching this season.

“That was news to me,” Hendriks told the Boston Herald before he took questions from reporters in the dugout on Friday afternoon.

He and Cora each discussed the new plan: Hendriks will return to Boston on Sunday and receive a cortisone shot. Dr. Keith Meister, who performed Hendriks’ Tommy John surgery in August 2023, told Hendriks the graft looks “fantastic.”

“Just a little residual pain sitting on the outside of the elbow,” Hendriks said of the cause of the soreness. “A little fluid sac under the tricep, gonna get that taken care of.”

After the injection, Hendriks said he’ll be shut down for “a couple of days,” and then they’ll evaluate. However, he noted that he’s had cortisone shots twice before, and they enabled him to “start back up again” quickly.

“You’re pretty much, theoretically, good to go,” Hendriks said. He added that he’s already worked his rehab assignment, meaning if the “shot takes hold,” he’ll be able to come off the injured list before long.

Hendriks has yet to pitch for the Red Sox, who signed him to a two-year deal early in spring training, knowing his recovery from surgery could keep him off the mound for the entire season.

“I know I mentioned there’s a chance he’s gonna be shut down, but at the same time if there’s a window for him to be part of this, if we pull this off, he’s still open,” Cora said. “Obviously, if we’re not putting him in a bad spot, then there’s value.”

“I kind of fought to give myself that opportunity,” Hendriks said. “There’s still a lot of games left, and who knows what’s going to happen? So the door’s not closed.”

• Thursday night represented more of the same for a Boston Red Sox offense that has been banging its head against the wall for more than a month.

Starter Cooper Criswell and five relievers combined to hold the New York Yankees to one run and six hits over nine innings, but Boston mustered just four hits, went 0 for 11 with runners in scoring position and stranded seven in a 2-1, 10-inning loss on the road.

In 11 September games, the Red Sox have scored more than three runs only three times. A potent lineup that carried the club early in the second half of the season has been out of whack since mid-August.

On paper, Boston has a more complete lineup now than at any point since April.

The healthy returns of Triston Casas and Trevor Story were supposed to make the group stronger, but they both have struggled lately and others, such as Jarren Duran, Rafael Devers and Wilyer Abreu, have faded late in the season.

That doesn’t mean hitting coach Pete Fatse is giving up.

“We’re going through a funk,” he said. “It has been a few weeks. I think we’ve been a little bit inconsistent but we’re hard-pressed to not look too much past that, really. The guys have battled and this time of year, that’s all you can ask for.

“You’ve got to remind them how good they are. At the end of the day, we didn’t get to this point by not being a good offense. We’ve been great. We’ve been very good. For me, when things aren’t going the way you want, you have to remind the guys just how good they are. And this group’s good.”

DODGERS: Shohei Ohtani did some long tossing in the outfield before the game at Atlanta, another step in his road to returning to the mound.

Could he pitch in the postseason?

“Anything is possible,” Manager Dave Roberts said. “I hope that’s on his mind as far as motivation for his rehab. The odds of it coming to pass are very slim, but they’re not zero.”

Ohtani has not pitched this season – his first with the Dodgers – after elbow surgery. Even so, he’s having a potentially historic year as the team’s designated hitter, trying to become the first player with 50 homers and 50 stolen bases in a major-league season.

Going into the opener of a four-game series in Atlanta, Ohtani had 47 homers and 48 stolen bases, putting him on pace to surpass 50 in both categories with 16 games left in the regular season.

RANGERS: General Manager Chris Young received a multiyear contract extension and promotion to president of baseball operations.

Young, 45, was hired as general manager in December 2020 and took over leadership of the entire baseball operations in August 2022.

The Rangers were World Series champions last year. His original four-year contract was set to expire after this season.