In the fifth game of their seven-game road trip, the Red Sox finally took their first lead.
It lasted two innings.
After Boston took a 3-1 lead over the Astros in the third inning of Tuesday's game, the Astros went on to score seven and beat the Sox, 8-3.
It was the sixth straight loss for the Sox, and the fifth straight since the All-Star break. The loss also gives them the worst record in the American League at 42-52, dropping them 10 games back from the A.L. East-leading Yankees.
Red Sox offense has combined to hit just .188 with seven runs on the road trip.
Brian Johnson, who made his MLB debut, took the loss, allowing four runs on three hits and four walks in 4 1/3 innings of work. He struck out three.
But while Johnson was by no means lights-out on the night, he was better than what his pitching line showed and relied on his curveball most of the night.
Yes, Johnson's pitch count was high, and he was charged with three runs in the Sox' fateful 5th inning, but it was an error by catcher Ryan Hanigan that brought in two of those runs.
With Jose Altuve at the plate, Chris Carter on third base, and Jake Marisnick on first base, Marisnick stole second base.
Hanigan made the throw to second, but it was off the mark on the second-base side of the bag and hit Marisnick's elbow as he slid in. As the ball then rolled into left-center field, Carter easily scored and Marisnick motored all the way home, taking advantage of the length in time it took Ramirez to get to the ball.
That tied the game up, gave Houston the momentum, and chased Johnson from the game one batter later when he then walked Altuve.
Justin Masterson came on in relief and hit the first batter he faced, Marwin Gonzalez. He then allowed a ground-rule double to Carlos Correa that scored Altuve, and an RBI ground out by Evan Gattis.
With the Astros taking a 5-3 lead, they wouldn't look back, going on to score three more runs the rest of the way - two from a home run by Carter off Masterson in the 6th inning.
Boston scored its first three runs of the game in the third inning when Mookie Betts' check swing connected for a double down the right-field line that scored Alejandro De Aza and Ryan Hanigan. Xander Bogaerts singled in Betts two batters later.