The Red Sox return to Fenway Park Friday night was not a successful one as the Sox dropped an 8-4 decision in the series opener against the Houston Astros. The Sox have lost 2 in a row overall and 2 in a row at Fenway. The Sox had an opportunity to get to .500 at home for just the 2nd time this season Friday night. 

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Ugly 7th for the Pen: Red Sox took a 3-1 lead to the Top of the 7th Inning. Lucas Sims was the 1st reliever into the game for Boston. Sims gave up a leadoff Triple to Jake Meyers, struck out the next hitter and then gave up a game-tying, 2-run Home Run to Jose Altuve. The Astros ended up scoring 4 runs in the inning (all 4 charged to Sims) and collected 7 hits (6 in a row at 1 point) in the 7th after managing just 4 hits over the 1st 6 Innings. 

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Ugly 7th Part II: Sox threated in the home 7th but were turned away and ended up leaving the bases full. Tayler Scott walked pinch-hitter Enmanuel Valdez to load up the bases with 2 outs and Scott left the bases full by striking out Rafael Devers on 3 pitches. 

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Tanner On The Bump: Tanner Houck made the start on the mound for the Red Sox Friday night. Houck gave up a leadoff walk to Jose Altuve and a single to Alex Bregman in the 1st Inning. Altuve scored from 3rd on a groundball double play. Houck came back and worked 5 straight scoreless innings. He worked a 1-2-3 4th inning and then left the bases loaded in the 5th. Houck gave up a leadoff single in the 6th and then got a 6-4-3 Double Play to end the inning. Houck went 6 innings and left with a 3-1 lead but ended up with a no-decision. #89's Final Line- 6.0 IP. 4 Hits. 1 R. 1 ER. 3 BB. 1 K. 82 Pitches/51 Strikes. 

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More 2-Out Magic- Sox took their 1st lead of the game in the bottom of the 2nd Inning against Houston starter Ronel Blanco. Nick Sogard, making his Fenway Park debut got things going with a 2-out single. Ceddanne Rafaela followed with a single and both scored on a Double off the bat of David Hamilton to make it 2-1 Red Sox. Sox 3rd run of the game came with 2 outs in the 4th when Nick Sogard scored on an errant pick-off attempt from Blanco. 

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Not A Lot of Hits: Jarren Duran led off the home 1st with a Double and was left stranded. Sox had the 3 straight hits in the 2nd. After that, they managed only 2 more hits for the rest of the night. 

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A Couple of Firsts for Sogard- Sogard made his Fenway Park debut Friday night. He singled and scored in the 2nd. Walked and stole his 1st Big League base in the 4th and was left stranded at 3rd Base. Sogard collected his 1st Big League Extra-Base hit with a two-out Double in the 7th and was eventually left on base. Sogard has reached in all 6 games since coming up from Triple-A. 

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What's Next?: Sox continue their series with the Astros with a a day game on Saturday. 1st pitch 4:10 p.m. EST. The Sox did not announce their starter for Game 2 of the series prior to Friday night's game. Astros go with rookie Spencer Arrighetti. 

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Locked On Red Sox POSTCAST Notes: The Red Sox are now winless in Houck's last 4 starts. His last win came on July 11th at home vs. the A's. Houck did not allow a Home Run in his 6 Innings of work. It's just the 2nd time in the last 10 games where a starting pitcher did not allow a Home Run. 

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Locked On Red Sox POSTCAST follows every Red Sox game all season long. Join us when we go live on the Locked On Sports Boston YouTube Channel and engage in some Sox conversation. Hit Me Up On the X: Steve Lenox (@LenoxOnBaseball) / X

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