Saturday night Red Sox manager Alex Cora announced they were pushing Tanner Houck’s next start back because he hadn’t recovered as well as hoped from his last outing.

Sunday morning, Cora provided an encouraging follow-up.

“He’s doing ok, just give him a blow here,” Cora said. “He feels actually better today so he will pitch Game 2 in New York.”

Houck has been Boston’s best starting pitcher this season, and so far 28-year-old has posted a 3.24 ERA over 169.2 innings through his first 28 starts. His starts and innings totals are both career-highs by a huge margin, but he’s still remained effective despite working deeper into the season than he ever has before.

Houck is now slated to make his next start on Friday against the Yankees, which will give him nine days of rest since his last start against the Mets on Sept. 4.

Upcoming starters

With Houck no longer in line to start Monday’s series opener against the Baltimore Orioles, Brayan Bello will take his place. Kutter Crawford will then take the hill Tuesday and Nick Pivetta will get the ball for Wednesday’s finale.

No update on Hendriks

Cora said the Red Sox still haven’t determined when Liam Hendriks (Tommy John rehab) will make his next rehab appearance. The right-hander suffered a small setback this past week that prevented him from pitching on back-to-back days, and his last appearance came on Thursday.

Overall Hendriks has pitched in six games since his assignment began on Aug. 18, and in five innings of work he’s yet to allow an earned run.

Cam Booser (left elbow inflammation) threw a scoreless inning of relief in his latest rehab appearance with the Portland Sea Dogs on Saturday.