HOUSTON -- Andrew Heaney said he wasn’t as “crisp” Friday night as he had been in his previous starts.

The left-hander gave the Rangers five good innings, but the offense failed to execute in a 6-3 loss to the Astros at Minute Maid Park.

Heaney allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits with five strikeouts.

“He kept us in the game,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “Overall, he gave us a chance. That’s a good-hitting ballclub. I thought he had good stuff. Overall, I thought he threw fine.”

The left-hander has allowed three earned runs or fewer in each of his last 14 starts, which is a new career high, and he became the first Texas pitcher to accomplish the feat since Kyle Gibson went 15 straight starts in 2021.

“I had a good start,” Heaney said. “I wasn’t quite as crisp as I have been the last three or four. For the most part, I was staying off the barrel and getting soft contact and then, just those two solo homers. Just bad fastball locations. I said it a million times, ‘Solo homers don’t beat you usually.’ Tonight [they] did."

Heaney said he “felt a little -- just a tiny bit off” compared to his last couple starts.

“I had good stuff,” he said. “I feel good. I feel like I’m throwing the ball well, but just kind of not quite as sharp and direct. I got away with a couple, didn’t get away with a couple.”

Heaney relied heavily on his four-seam fastball and slider Friday night, combining to throw those two pitches for 68 out of the 84 pitches he threw. He threw 37 four-seam fastballs but only got one whiff, while on his 31 sliders, he collected seven whiffs. In total, Heaney got 11 whiffs on the night.

“That has been a big pitch for him,” Bochy said of the slider. “And the fastball and changeup, too. He’s been throwing the ball well.”

Heaney was complimentary of his changeup, which he threw 15 times and got three whiffs on.

“Honestly, I thought I threw some pretty good changeups,” the left-hander said. “I thought I got some weak contact on the infield on changeups. You got to mix it up. This team is good. I think I have a reputation as a guy who throws a lot of fastballs, so just got to mix it up and pick your spots, pick your moments.”

Heaney lamented the two solo home runs he gave up to Jake Meyers in the fourth and Alex Bregman in the fifth.

“First pitch to Bregman, it was down the middle,” Heaney said. “I tried to challenge him, and he put a good swing on it. Meyers, I think was a 1-1. I can probably be a little bit more fine with that one. I don’t have to be as aggressive in the zone with it. Again, he put a good swing on it.”

The Rangers had their chances, too.

Corey Seager hit his team-leading 18th home run of the season in the sixth to cut Houston’s lead to 3-2.

Before that, the Rangers had runners on first and second with one out in the first, but Hunter Brown got Wyatt Langford to hit a 106.4 mph lineout to Bregman and Adolis García flied out to Chas McCormick to end the inning.

“That hurts when you hit a ball like that,” Bochy said of Langford’s lineout. “Obviously, you’d like to get it going early in the game. First and second with two good hitters up there, and he smokes it and lined out.”

After Travis Jankowski scored on an RBI single by Corey Seager in the seventh, the Rangers still had runners on the corners with two outs, but Bryan Abreu struck out Josh Smith to end the threat.

Texas finished 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position and left six on base.

“We had five hits between the first two guys, and not much after that,” Bochy said. “That’s probably what did us in tonight. We had a tough time getting guys on base after those two. Corey got us back in the game. It’s a one-run game, and we like our chances there, but they answered back with the two-out rally there in the sixth.”