HOUSTON — Instant reactions from the Red Sox’ 7-6 loss to the Houston Astros on Monday at Daikin Park:
1) The Red Sox lost their third straight game to drop to 65-55 overall and 26-33 on the road. The Astros improved to 67-52.
Boston had swept the Astros in a three-game series to start the month at home.
2) Connor Wong doubled with two outs in the ninth, but left-handed reliever Bennett Sousa then entered the game and struck out Roman Anthony swinging.
The rally followed an eighth-inning sequence in which Romy Gonzalez hit a two-out single, then was thrown out at second base trying to steal with Rob Refsnyder at the plate. Gonzalez is now 4-for-7 trying to steal this year.
Houston went to Enyel De Los Santos — on his second team this year and making his Astros debut — for the final out of the eighth and the first two outs of the ninth, then Sousa because lights-out closer Josh Hader was unavailable due to shoulder discomfort. He’s undergoing tests.
3) Alex Bregman homered in his first at-bat back in Houston. The former Astros star crushed the third pitch he saw from starter Cristian Javier, sending it 350 feet to left field. Anthony scored on the blast after singling to lead off the game.
4) Red Sox starter Garrett Crochet went just 4 innings and allowed five runs, seven hits and one walk while striking out five. Christian Walker’s two-run double in the third inning made it 3-2 Astros. Crochet allowed a two-run home run to Chas McCormick in the fourth inning, making it 5-2 Houston.
5) Crochet’s 4 innings marked his shortest outing this season. It also was just the third time this season that Crochet has given up as many as five runs in a start. He also gave up five runs in 6 innings June 7 at New York vs. the Yankees and five runs in 6 innings June 30 at home vs. Cincinnati.
6) Crochet’s fastball topped out at 98.8 mph and averaged 96.9 mph, an increase from his 96.2 mph average fastball velocity this season. But he threw his heater less than usual and got zero swings and misses with it. He has used his fastball 39.5% this season but went to it 31% of the time Monday. He finished with 12 swings and misses: seven with his sweeper and five with his cutter.
7) The Red Sox scored four runs in the seventh inning to cut a 7-2 deficit to 7-4. It marked the fourth time this season the Red Sox have had four extra-base hits in an inning. All the damage came after the first two batters were retired.
Abraham Toro’s solo homer cut it to 7-3. Ceddanne Rafaela and Masataka Yoshida followed with back-to-back doubles, cutting it to 7-4. Roman Anthony made it 7-6 with a two-run homer to right-center field.
8) Anthony’s homer was his third of the season. It traveled 398 feet with a 102.9 mph exit velocity.
9) Bregman wasn’t the only former Astro to homer. Houston drafted Abraham Toro in the fifth round in 2016 and he appeared in 93 games for the Astros from 2019-21. His blast went 398 feet to right-center field.
10) The Red Sox and Astros will play the second game of their three-game series Tuesday at 8:10 p.m. Dustin May (6-8, 4.93 ERA) will start for Boston opposite Houston righty Spencer Arrighetti (1-2, 7.43 ERA).
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