Their bats suddenly gone cold, the Red Sox dropped their second straight to the Houston Astros, 5-1, managing just five hits -- four of them singles.
Garrett Richards gave the Sox six strong innings, and though he labored at times, kept the Sox in the game, limiting Houston to two runs.
But in the seventh, the Astros added three more runs -- two unearned -- as the Sox committed two errors and a wild pitch.
WHO: Red Sox (32-21) vs. Houston Astros (29-24)
WHEN: 8:10 p.m.
WHERE: Minute Maid Park
SERIES TO DATE: HOU 1-0
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Garrett Richards (4-3, 3.83) vs. RHP Luis Garcia (3-3, 2.93)
TV/RADIO: NESN; WEEI-FM 93.7
LINEUPS
RED SOX
Hernandez CF
Verdugo LF
Martinez DH
Bogaerts SS
Devers 3B
Renfroe RF
Santana 1B
Vazquez C
Gonzalez 2B
ASTROS
Altuve 2B
Correa SS
Bregman 3B
Alvarez DH
Gurriel 1B
Tucker RF
McCormick LF
Straw CF
Maldonado C
IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS:
B7: Ugly, ugly inning for the Red Sox: two errors, a wild pitch and three walks, leading to two big insurance runs for the Astros.
B7: On what should have been a double play, Gonzalez throws the ball away at first, allowing Kyle Tucker to score from second while Myles Straw takes second.
B6: Richards is likely done at 97 pitches. He labored most of the night, but pitched out of several jams kept the Sox in the game.
T6: In the first 15 innings of the series, the Big Three of J.D. Martinez, Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers is a combined 0-for-18 with 11 strikeouts.
B5: Richards has his first 1-2-3 inning, and as important, needs just 12 pitches to get the three outs. Sets Richards up to come back for the sixth, at 84 pitches.
T5: Marwin Gonzalez's struggles continue at the plate, but at least he puts the ball in play - groundout to first is enough to score Renfroe and move Santana into scoring position.
T5: Red Sox catch a break as Luis Garcia is late in covering first, so that when a throw arrives from Gurriel, it's a base hit for Danny Santana. Runners at the corners, no out.
B3: Incredibly, Richards works out of a mess, with a double play and a groundout to the right side. Astros had two on and no out and the heart of their order coming up, but come up empty.
B3: Richards is asking for trouble here with two walks to start the third. Control has been an issue the last couple of outings for Richards, with eight walks issued.
T2: Poor baserunning for Kyle Tucker, who jogs to second on a ball hit down into the RF corner, then decides, inexplicably, to go for third, where he's cut down.
B1: It takes four pitches for Jose Altuve to give the Astros a 1-0 lead. Garrett Richards tries a fastball at the top of the zone and Altuve hammers it to center.
T1: By virtue of a little mix-up between Luis Garcia and first baseman Yuli Gurriel, Red Sox get what they failed to get in nine innings Monday -- a single. Every hit Monday was for extra-bases. Alex Verdugo safe at first.
WHAT'S UP:: The Red Sox snapped a three-game winning streak with Monday's 11-2 loss, their most lopsided loss of the season...It matched their most runs surrendered in a game, having also allowed 1 runs to the Orioles on April 4, the third game of the season...All five Red Sox hits Monday were for extra-bases (four doubles, one homer.).It marked their first time recording five or more hits and no singles since April 10, 2013 vs. Baltimore...The Red Sox are 7-3 in their last 10 and unbeaten in their last five series (4-0-1). Since getting swept by the Orioles to starts the season, the Sox are 32-18 (.640), tied with the White Sox for the AL’s best record in that time....The Sox enter Tuesday night two full games behind Tampa Bay in the AL East, their biggest deficit since the first week of the season...The Red Sox lead the majors in doubles (119), extra-base hits (192), slugging percentage (.446), and OPS (.765) and rank second in batting average (.259) and third in runs per game (5.08). The Sox are an MLB-best 28-3 (.903) when scoring four or more runs and are 16-0 when scoring seven or more runs...They remain the only team to record at least one extra-base hit in every game this season....J.D. Martinez (second), Rafael Devers (fourth), and Xander Bogaerts (sixth) each rank in the top 6 in the AL in OPS...They each have an OPS above .925; no other team has three qualifying players with an OPS above .850...Martinez (.323) and Bogaerts (.321) rank first and third in the AL in batting average...Devers leads the majors in extra-base hits (31) and ranks second in RBI (43)....The Sox have hit multiple homers in 10 of their last 15 games...They are 17-2 (.895) when hitting two or more homers....The Sox have hit 10 three-run homers, tied for most in the AL....: At 16-8 (.667), the Sox own MLB’s second-best road record' only Tampa Bay (20-7) is better...They are 6-1-0 in series away from Fenway Park....The Red Sox went 17-10 (.630) in April and 15-11 (.577) in May and were the only American League team with a winning percentage of .575 or better in each month...The Giants and Dodgers were the only teams in the National League to do so....Matt Barnes has struck out 41 of 85 batters faced (48.2%) and has thrown first-pitch strikes to 75.3% of hitters, the best mark among relievers with at least 20 innings thrown...Barnes has thrown at least 1.0 inning and allowed no base runners 12 times, the most in the majors...Jose Altuve is 11-for-36 lifetime against Garrett Richards while Carlos Correa is 3-for-9....
NEWS:
* Ryan Brasier (calf strain) threw a simulated game in Fort Myers Sunday and is getting closer to being sent out on a rehab assignment.
* Brandon Workman, whom the Sox brought back on a minor league deal last month, has decided to exercise his opt-out clause that was part of his contract. The Sox have the next two days to determine whether they wish to add him to the major league roster or allow him to seek free agency. "We'll see where it goes,'' said Alex Cora.
* Bobby Dalbec is out of the lineup for the second straight game and Cora admitted that the first baseman's playing time is limited. "He's been scuffling,'' said Cora. "He's been chasing pitches out of the zone. He'll be back in the lineup (Wednesday and Thursday). I just feel like there are certain matchups that we're trying to avoid. We're trying to help him out as much as possible and put him in situations where he can succeed.''
* Garrett Whitlock hasn't pitched in about a week, but Cora maintained that's been dictated by score and game conditions. "He's healthy and available,'' said Cora.