HOUSTON — More than four months into his first season, Garrett Crochet had his first truly bad game with the Red Sox on Monday night.
They lost to the Astros, 7-6, at Daikin Park after Crochet got pummeled for five runs in four innings.
It was the first time in 24 starts this year that he failed to finish five frames. The runs allowed matched his total from his previous 30 innings — a span that stretched back more than a month.
“Obviously, my worst one since I’ve worn the Red Sox uniform, so it’s tough,” Crochet said. “It’s not like there’s a good time for it ever, but it’s tough to come right now for sure. We’ve got a lot of goals as a team right now and I’d like to contribute in any way possible and keep stacking wins, whether it be gaining in the division or standings as a whole.
“It’s a tough line, but overall, execution wasn’t bad. Just chalk it up to their approach was better than mine tonight and move on.”
The Red Sox (65-55) have lost three consecutive games for the first time since late June, when they dropped six in a row as they were finding themselves following the Rafael Devers trade.
Crochet’s outing was split in half. In the first two innings, the Astros went 1 for 7 with four strikeouts. In the next two, they went 6 for 12 with a home run, three doubles, a walk, and just one strikeout.
The problem, according to Crochet, was his game plan. The first time through the order, he threw more sweepers than normal, instead of his usual fastball-heavy approach. He decided on that because of “their aggressive tendencies,” which was “just something that revealed itself when doing my scouting,” he said.
It worked, but it left Crochet in a weird spot the second time through the order. Normally, that is when he introduces his breaking ball more regularly. This time, the Astros (67-52) already had seen it a bunch.
“They were able to be a little bit closer to pitches,” he said. “They weren’t exactly hammering all of them, but it was foul balls that ultimately forced me to come back into the zone.
“I felt like as a whole — even the spin, the four-seamers, in general — I was executing well. I kind of pegged this lineup for a team that I didn’t have to use the four-seam to, knowing their aggression. But then after I got to two strikes, it was just continued battle from their side.”
The Sox led, 2-0, when Houston struck back for three runs in the third inning. The big blow was Christian Walker’s booming, go-ahead, two-out, two-run double to left-center field.
In the fourth, Chas McCormick banged a two-run homer off the back wall beyond the Crawford Boxes in left field.
“Especially with two strikes, it seems like they took the humble approach instead of trying to go big,” manager Alex Cora said.
Cora and Crochet conversed in the dugout after the pitcher came out of the game.
“We agreed that there was some bad luck involved and also he didn’t execute some pitches,” Cora said.
Crochet said: “I didn’t feel like I struggled with execution outside of three pitches, and two of them were hit hard and that ultimately decided my stat line for the night.”
Astros righthander Cristian Javier was largely effective in his return from Tommy John surgery, holding the Sox to two runs in five innings in his first start in nearly 15 months.
The Red Sox started off with a bang. Roman Anthony hammered Javier’s first pitch to left-center field for a single. Former Astros star Alex Bregman — moments after tipping his cap to a round of applause from adoring Houston fans — hit a home run to left.
Four pitches into the game, the Sox led by a pair. They went 1 for 15 the rest of Javier’s outing. Their only other hit was Jarren Duran’s two-out single in the third.
Bregman’s long ball was a storybook moment of sorts in his first game back in Houston after leaving the Astros for the Red Sox via free agency last offseason. The club honored him with a tribute video before the game, and the crowd followed suit with a standing ovation.
“Every time you hit a homer in the big leagues, it’s pretty special,” Bregman said. “But to be able to do it the first at-bat back here was a pretty cool moment I’ll never forget.”
When he stepped to the plate for his second at-bat, the crowd booed, seemingly in good fun.
“It was great,” Bregman said with a big smile. “I loved it. I loved it. I was hoping they would. It’s two good teams getting after it. They want to win. Both teams want to win really badly. It’s fun. It’s good for the game.”
Trailing, 7-2, the Red Sox got within one partially because of Anthony’s two-run homer in the seventh.
Anthony also batted with the would-be tying run on second base in the ninth, but he struck out swinging against Bennett Sousa to end the game. That stranded Bregman in the on-deck circle.
“I was just praying,” Bregman said, “for that at-bat.”
Tim Healey can be reached at timothy.healey@globe.com. Follow him @timbhealey.