The Red Sox stumbled out of the gate to start the second half, but Saturday offered an opportunity for the club to string together three straight wins and two straight series victories over potential playoff competitors.

Instead, Saturday brought another setback.

Red Sox ace Tanner Houck continued his second half struggles, allowing back-to-back home runs in what wound up being among his worst starts of the season. Though Rob Refsnyder enjoyed a monster day at the plate, going 4 for 4 with a walk, two home runs and three RBI, it wasn’t enough as the Red Sox fell to the Texas Rangers 7-4.

Boston took control early thanks a pair of solo home runs by Refsnyder. The lefty killer took Rangers left-hander Cody Bradford deep right out of the gate in the top of the first and hit another shot his next time up in the fourth. Rafael Devers followed Refsnyder’s second homer with a double and Connor Wong drove him in with an RBI single to give Boston a 3-0 lead.

Up until that point Houck had been dealing, but in the bottom of the fourth the Rangers flipped the script on the All-Star righty.

With a man on and two outs the Rangers rallied for four runs to take the lead, getting back-to-back home runs by Jonah Heim and Leody Taveras to make it 4-3. Ezequiel Duran singled to put runners at the corners, setting the stage for Heim’s game-tying three-run shot, and then Taveras put the Rangers in front with his solo shot immediately afterwards.

“Hanging split, back door breaking ball in the zone and they put two good swings on it,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “Then after that they put the ball in play and put pressure on us and they end up scoring.”

Houck bounced back with a scoreless fifth, but the Rangers delivered the knockout blow in the sixth. Texas had its first six batters of the inning reach safely, including a leadoff double by Adolis Garcia and singles by Josh Jung and Duran, the latter of which scored a run and chased Houck from the game after five-plus innings.

The Red Sox caught a break when Heim subsequently singled off Brennan Bernardino and Jung was thrown out at the plate by center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela, but the Rangers wound up scoring twice more anyway on RBI singles by Taveras and Josh Smith.

Houck finished with seven earned runs allowed on eight hits, two walks and seven strikeouts over five-plus innings. Houck has now posted a 7.41 ERA over his last three starts since the All-Star break, bringing his season ERA up to 3.09 from 2.54.

The Red Sox had a chance to get back into the game late. Refsnyder came up with another big hit, scoring Rafaela with an RBI double in the seventh, and Boston loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the eighth. Texas’ All-Star closer Kirby Yates was summoned after the second of three consecutive singles, and while Rafaela was able to extend the rally, Yates struck out Jarren Duran to keep it a 7-4 game.

That’s ultimately as close as Boston could get, and the Red Sox finished 3 for 11 with runners in scoring position and 10 men stranded on base.

The Red Sox (58-51) will look to take the series with Texas (53-58) in Sunday’s rubber match, with Nick Pivetta (5-7, 4.47) set to take the hill against former Red Sox great Nathan Eovaldi (8-4, 3.38). First pitch is set for 2:35 p.m. ET.

Duran OK

The Red Sox experienced a scare when Duran appeared to suffer an injury to his side while he was running the bases and was later checked by the trainer during a subsequent at bat. Duran stayed in the game, however, and Cora told reporters after the game that the issue isn’t serious.

“He’s ok, he felt something on his side in one of his swings,” Cora said. “He’ll get treatment tomorrow and he should be ready to go.”

O’Neill day-to-day

Red Sox outfielder Tyler O’Neill (illness) was out of the lineup on Saturday, and Cora told reporters he likely won’t play on Sunday either. Cora also said right-hander Chris Martin (right elbow inflammation) will start a rehab assignment in Portland on Wednesday, and right-hander Liam Hendriks (Tommy John rehab) will ramp up his workload, throwing three bullpens in the next week. If all goes well Hendriks could potentially start a rehab assignment of his own in the near future.

Luetge released

The Red Sox announced Saturday that Lucas Luetge has been granted his release after triggering an opt out provision in his contract. The 37-year-old signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox this past offseason and was originally expected to contend for a spot in the big league bullpen, but he didn’t make the Opening Day roster and has since spent the entire season in Triple-A. In 31 games with the WooSox, Luetge posted a 3.02 ERA with 47 strikeouts in 41.2 innings.