Ask Liam Hendriks to tone it down, and his response will probably include words not fit for print. Before Saturday afternoon’s game between the Red Sox and Houston Astros, Hendriks threw live batting practice. Fenway Park tours are still in progress during the hours leading up to games. This meant that a few hundred fans, many of them families with young children, would be within earshot as Hendriks, known for the colorful language that accompanies his pitching, went about his business.

“I told him before we got out there, man, I’m like, ‘Yo there’s kids here, let’s keep it PG-13.’ And he told me to shut the (expletive) up,” a smiling Romy Gonzalez told the Herald. “But that’s Liam, he’s unfiltered, he is who he is, and that’s why we love him.”

Indeed, there were as many, if not more expletives hurled from the mound than baseballs during the session.

“It’s my normal way of pitching, it’s just when there’s no one in the stands you get to hear it a little bit clearer,” Hendriks said with a chuckle as he sat in the dugout after. “Luckily, the Red Sox sell pretty well, and so when I get back into actual game stuff, it won’t be as pronounced. Unless they decided to mic me up, which is a dangerous proposition for anyone involved.”

Someone unfamiliar with the veteran reliever’s unique style might assume he was unhappy with the outing. Far from it.

“A lot better today. I threw a few more curveballs today, which were good. Slider was still (expletive) but it’s getting there, and curveball’s a lot better today,” he assessed. “According to Romy it had a lot of life to it, which is nice.”

“It was playing well,” Gonzalez concurred. “He’s getting close for sure, getting back to form, which is going to be huge for us.”

Hendriks has yet to pitch for the Red Sox. He underwent Tommy John surgery last August, so they signed him early in spring training knowing he wouldn’t contribute until late in the season, if at all.

“I don’t know who’s more excited, me or everyone in the clubhouse because they don’t have to hear me as much,” Hendriks said with a smile. “Me bored is not a good thing.”

He’d been itching to face live hitters and get their feedback for months. “The best way to learn is with a hitter in the box so you can judge swings a little bit better,” Hendriks explained. “It’s a good barometer.”

Gonzalez has served in this role for him before; they were teammates on the Chicago White Sox when Hendriks was working his way back after finishing cancer treatments last year.

“The fastball, I saw him in Chicago when he was coming back from the lymphoma and it’s definitely different now than it was back then,” Gonzalez assessed. “The heater’s got that ride that he usually gets, and he threw me a 3-2 curveball that was really, really good. It was real tight, no pop, and just like, fell off the table, bottom fell off. He looks really good.”

Hendriks has been pushing hard to accelerate his timeline since he arrived at the club’s spring training complex in Fort Myers in mid-February. When he threw his first live BP during the team’s series in Kansas City earlier this week, he took matters into his own hands.

“He actually threw (breaking balls) the other day,” said manager Alex Cora. (Hendriks wasn’t supposed to do that in the first session.) “He’s doing a good job with the training staff, obviously he has his own ideas.”

“Surgeon said three or four (live BPs), I’m obviously hoping for three, but yeah, like after the first one I was like, okay maybe four,” Hendriks said. “After today I’m thinking maybe three.”

In between sessions, Hendriks is focusing on “fine-tuning a couple of things, especially with location in the zone.” How he bounces back from each outing is also key to continuing his ramp-up, and he’s been pleased with so far. “I’ve been bouncing back really well,” he said.

“The action of the fastball is there, the hop is there, velo obviously is not where he wants, but we just got to be patient,” Cora said. “Today is a big day. The second one, see how he bounces back from last week, and then (Sunday) we’ll reassess the situation and go from there. But the way things are going, it’s going fast and it’s going well.”

Hendriks has been working with a world-class staff, but he also credits his improvement between his first and second live BPs to someone outside the organization.

“Today was better than the other day. The other day we noticed a couple things, and by ‘we’ I mean the coaching staff and my wife. She pulled up the receipts of how I used to pitch and realized that I was a little lower on the mound,” the pitcher said with a smile. “Not ideal for the way I pitch and couldn’t get to that glove side, and today was a lot better with that.”

It’s nothing new for the couple.

“She’s really involved with Liam and when he pitches she’s real into it, which is awesome, she’s very supportive, which is very cool to see,” Gonzalez said.

“She’s been able to pick out several things over the course of the years, and I mean, regardless of mechanics, also mindset stuff. She’s able to pick me up when I’m having a little bit of a struggle-time or knock me down when I get a little too egotistical,” Hendriks said. “She’s a godsend out there to make sure I’m in the right frame of mind to be able to kind of go out there and do my best. …Definitely wouldn’t be here or have had the career I would’ve without her.”

Red Sox injury updates

Nick Pivetta (arm fatigue) is progressing well and will either start Wednesday’s series finale against the Texas Rangers at Fenway, or Thursday’s series opener against the Orioles in Baltimore.

The Red Sox have ruled out any correlation to the flexor strain that landed Pivetta on the injured list in April.

“They went through all this stuff,” Cora said. “If that was the case, we would’ve put him on the IL.”

Triston Casas’ rehab assignment expires at the end of the upcoming week. As to when he returns within that window, Alex Cora said the ball is in his court, but doesn’t expect him back for Sunday’s series finale with the Astros. Nor was he optimistic that Casas would play against the Rangers in the following series.

The Red Sox expect Cooper Criswell back from the COVID-related injured list as soon as the mandatory seven days are up.