Monday night’s series opener with the Baltimore Orioles was a twice-in-a-franchise-lifetime game for the Red Sox.

That’s why the home team was so frustrated when Tuesday’s follow-up was a dime-a-dozen: a 5-3 loss in which the offense did little, the bullpen gave away game-changing runs, and a strong starting pitching performance went to waste.

The Red Sox had won 12-3 on Monday, with Rob Refsnyder and Tyler O’Neill joining Mo Vaughn and Tim Naehring (April 1994) as the only Boston teammates to hit back-to-back home runs twice in the same game.

“It got to the point yesterday where we were in the dugout kind of saying, ‘Alright, let’s save something for tomorrow,’ ” said first baseman Triston Casas. “Yesterday was a barrage for sure.”

On Tuesday night, the Boston bats went quickly and quietly against Orioles starter Albert Suárez and the Baltimore bullpen, collecting seven hits and striking out 13 times. Thanks to Cedric Mullins, who hit his first of two home runs off Red Sox starter Kutter Crawford in the top of the first, Súarez worked with a lead from the start.

Aside from Casas’ RBI double in the fourth, Súarez kept Boston off the board. He exited after six innings, charged with one earned run on four hits, with two walks and eight strikeouts.

Mullins was to Crawford what Casas was to Suárez, albeit on a much more impactful scale. In the third inning, he homered for the second time, bringing Gunnar Henderson home with him to make it 3-0. It was Mullins’ fifth career multi-homer game, and his first since June 2021.

Even so, it was another strong outing for Crawford. Over 6.1 innings, he held the Orioles to three earned runs on seven hits, one walk, and struck out six.

“He was great, man, threw the ball well,” said manager Alex Cora. “He gave us more than enough. Velocity was up, the characteristic of the fastball was really good, and gave us a chance to win.”

It was Crawford’s 30th start of the season, and he blew past his previous career-high weeks ago. He pitched into the seven inning for the sixth time this year. It was his third consecutive quality start, and 14th overall this season. He owns a 3.86 ERA over his last five starts after posting a 9.75 ERA over the previous five.

“Rough patch right there in the middle of the season, but being able to bounce back, going deep into the games, being efficient, the stuff has been really good,” Cora said.

It was remained a close game until the seventh, when the Boston bullpen struck again. After Crawford opened the inning with a strikeout, Cora made his first of two pitching changes in the inning. Brennan Bernardino loaded the bases on a single by Gunnar Henderson, intentional walk to Anthony Santander – who’d hit his 40th home run the night before – and another single by Ryan O’Hearn, prompting Cora to go to Luis Guerrero. The rookie immediately gave up a two-run single to Adley Rutschman before getting out of the inning.

The Red Sox made it interesting in the bottom of the eighth. Jarren Duran led off with a single, and Tyler O’Neill worked a two-out walk, putting two on for Masataka Yoshida. The Red Sox designated hitter promptly delivered another late-game clutch hit, doubling to bring Duran home. Moments later, Boston was gifted their third and ultimately final run via balk. They went quietly in the ninth, stranding Ceddanne Rafaela, who’d singled with two outs in a last-minute rally attempt.

After coming off the 60-day injured list on Aug. 16, Casas hit .357 with a .973 OPS over his first 11 games. In the subsequent 11 games (leading up to Tuesday), he’d hit .097 with a .319 OPS. On Tuesday afternoon, his manager said he and Casas had “a good conversation” after Sunday’s game.

“One thing I told him, ‘Man, you’re a good hitter. Sometimes just keep it simple. See the ball, hit it,’ ” Cora said. “That’s the best approach for him. So, hopefully we get back to that.”

“I’m a very cerebral type of hitter,” Casas said. “I don’t have crazy abilities out there in terms of like, attributes that jump off the charts, so I got to really make up in other ways.

“As hitters, we’re always transitioning, and almost molting, like butterflies. So I’m in my next phase right now, hopefully better at-bats coming soon.” Casas continued. “I feel like I’m at my best when sometimes I’m getting beat by the fastball, but it’s ebb and flow for sure. Sometimes, you know, they’re going to use my aggressiveness against me, but for the most part, I want to try to make sure that I’m swinging at strikes and controlling the zone the best that I can. And you know, that’s what I feel like I’ve been doing just, you know, haven’t had the results that I’ve wanted.”

The Red Sox and Orioles wrap up their season series on Wednesday night. After that, only 16 games remain in Boston’s regular-season slate. The Wild Card isn’t out of the question, but at this point, just finishing above .500 isn’t guaranteed.

Boston Red Sox shortstop Ceddanne Rafaela mishandles the ball as Baltimore Orioles outfielder Cedric Mullins, right, steals second base in the eighth inning. (Staff Photo/Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)