Red Sox shut down by Astros ace Hunter Brown, lose second straight series

Big picture, it’s hard not to be satisfied with the way the Boston Red Sox handled their recent gauntlet. Since the All-Star break six of the Red Sox’s eight series have come against playoff teams, and they’ll come home Thursday 10 games over .500 with a record of 13-11 over that stretch.

But while the Red Sox have shown they can hold their own against the best, this past road trip also showed they’re far from unbeatable.

The Red Sox lost Wednesday’s finale to the Houston Astros 4-1, dropping their second straight series and finishing the road trip with a 2-4 record. Hunter Brown bolstered his Cy Young Award candidacy with another gem, shutting the Red Sox down over 6 2/3 dominant innings, and the top three batters in Boston’s lineup combined to go 0 for 11 on the day.

After the Red Sox jumped out to a pair of early leads in the first two games, the Astros wasted no time striking first on Wednesday. Jeremy Peña hit a leadoff home run off Walker Buehler to start the bottom of the first, and from there the Astros worked two walks before Yainer Diaz extended the lead with an RBI single to make it 2-0.

The Red Sox got a run back against Brown in the second on an RBI single by Ceddanne Rafaela, but beyond that offense was hard to come by against the Astros ace.

Brown didn’t allow another Red Sox run the rest of the way. He struck out Connor Wong with men on second and third to get out of the second inning, and he worked his way out of another two-on, two-out jam for a scoreless fourth.

Boston’s best chance against Brown late came in the sixth, when Jarren Duran walked, advanced to second on a balk and then to third on a groundout. At one point during Romy Gonzalez’s ensuing at-bat the Red Sox were convinced Brown balked again, which would have drove in the tying run, but the umpires determined there was no violation and Brown forced a groundout to strand Duran at third.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora wasn’t pleased, and he was later ejected from the game after coming out again during a pitching change in the seventh.

Good as Brown was, Buehler did his part to make sure it stayed a one-run game, at least for a while.

After getting in early trouble in the first, Buehler settled down and retired 15 of the next 16 batters he faced after Diaz’s RBI single. He needed only four pitches to post a scoreless fifth, but after getting two quick outs in the sixth he ran into trouble again when he walked Victor Caratini.

That brought Diaz to the plate, and the Astros catcher beat Buehler again, this time crushing a hanging sweeper 415 feet for a two-run home run.

Buehler wound up allowing four runs over six innings, giving up four hits and four walks while striking out three.

Even though he’s had a couple of shorter outings and walks have remained an issue, Buehler has generally been more effective since the start of July. Over his past seven starts he’s posted a 3.69 ERA over 39 innings, lowering his season ERA to 5.43 from a high-point of 6.45.

Brown finished his outing strong in the seventh, drawing a big double play to thwart a potential Red Sox rally before left-hander Bennett Sousa struck out Roman Anthony to end the inning. Brown finished with one run allowed over 6 2/3 innings, and despite the Red Sox getting plenty of traffic with six hits and three walks, they also went just 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position against him.

The Red Sox didn’t have much better luck against the Astros bullpen, but with All-Star closer Josh Hader out injured with shoulder trouble, the club made one last push in the top of the ninth against his replacement, Bryan Abreu. Masataka Yoshida and Gonzalez led off the inning with back-to-back singles, but from there Abreu got a pop-out and two strikeouts to close out the game.

Boston will have an off-day on Thursday before returning to Fenway Park this weekend for a three-game series against the Miami Marlins. While the Red Sox have now lost five of their last seven games, four of the club’s next five series will be against teams with losing records.

First pitch Friday against the Marlins is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET.

Harrison delivers gem

Left-hander Kyle Harrison, one of the players acquired in June’s Rafael Devers trade, has begun picking up momentum in Triple-A and delivered his best start yet on Wednesday. The 24-year-old posted five scoreless innings with eight shutouts in the eventual 1-0 WooSox loss, and dating back to July 13 he has now posted a 1.59 ERA over 28 1/3 innings in his last six starts.

Harrison has not yet pitched in the majors with Boston, but prior to his acquisition he appeared in 39 MLB games with San Francisco. He remains a depth option for this year’s club and could become a potential long-term rotation mainstay in the years to come.

Burdi clears waivers

Right-hander Nick Burdi, who was designated for assignment by the Red Sox earlier this week, has cleared waivers and been outrighted back to Triple-A Worcester, per the WooSox transaction log. Burdi has appeared in four MLB games this season, throwing 5 1/3 scoreless innings, and he has a 1.88 ERA in 20 appearances with the WooSox.

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