MartÃn Pérez came into Tuesday with the Boston Red Sox rotation's lowest ERA, rolling off one of his strongest starts of the year in the last series against the Astros.
But this start was a little different than when he was in Houston.
The pitcher made it just two innings, but after a five-run second (he gave up six total earned off six hits and three walks), Pérez's day was done. The ultimate 7-1 loss ultimately snapped a five-game win streak for Boston.
"That's gonna happen," manager Alex Cora said after the game. "He pitched great against them last week, they made some adjustments, you could tell, and it wasn't a it was a good one. But that's gonna happen throughout the season, right?"
Perhaps the Red Sox were due for this, because this game was unusual.
In addition to a quiet offensive night, the loss also was strange in that it was only the second time a Boston starter went three or fewer innings.
"I was a little mad because my job in that situation just go deep in the game no matter what," Pérez said in his postgame media availability. "I came in, I don't know, too many pitches, too many four balls, too many base hits and 60 pitches in two innings.
"I gotta say I don't have my best stuff tonight."
Here are other notes from Red Sox-Astros:
-- This was Framber Valdez's second strong start against Boston this season, and the offense laid into its pitchers from beginning to end.
It begs the question, do the Astros just have the Red Sox's number this year?
Cora doesn't seem to think so.
"All depends how you see it," Cora said. "We didn't play one good inning defensively in Houston and they scored four. Today they have one big inning and they scored five. After that they didn't do much."
Unfortunately, neither did the Red Sox, held to just six hits all day, stranding a few runners and only coming up with a run.
"We haven't hit," Cora said. "Obviously they put seven on the board but in four out of the five games we haven't hit. They do that to a lot of teams. I don't think this kind of like, they're better than us or we're better than them I just feel like we haven't hit."
-- Catcher Christian Vázquez was scheduled for a second day off, but those plans changed when backup Kevin Plawecki was ruled out after being hit in the mask with a bouncing changeup.
The Red Sox ruled the injury a jaw contusion, and Cora provided an update postgame.
"He looked a little bit out of it for a little bit there, so I decided to take him out. He'll be sore tomorrow morning, we'll obviously pay attention to how he feels tonight but no concussion. He's sore and hopefully he can be ready for tomorrow."
-- Boston is 1 1/2 games out of first place in the American League East thanks to its loss and the Tampa Bay Rays' victory over the Washington Nationals.
-- The Astros are in town for two more days, with the second game of the series set for Wednesday at 7:10 p.m. ET. Pregame begins at 6 p.m. on NESN.
