HOUSTON -- In his first season starting since 2020, veteran right-hander Seth Lugo has exceeded most expectations in his first year with the Padres. But his recent run of elite form was halted by the dynamic offense of the Astros, who overcame a three-run deficit to rally for a 7-5 win on Saturday night at Minute Maid Park.

Yordan Alvarez smashed a home run and an RBI double off Lugo (6-7, 3.80 ERA), while Kyle Tucker put Houston ahead to stay with a two-run double during a five-run fifth inning. In all, the 33-year-old Lugo allowed six runs on seven hits and three walks to go with two strikeouts over 4 1/3 innings.

"I felt like I had better stuff than the line ended up,” Lugo said. “I felt like I made a couple mistakes that led to runs, but there were a couple cheap hits, too, in my opinion. I tip my hat to those … but I felt a little unfortunate today.”

With the win, the Astros (81-62) moved to a 1 1/2-game lead over the Mariners (79-63) in the American League West race. San Diego (67-76), which has won five of its past eight, trails Arizona (75-68) by eight games for the third National League Wild Card spot.

“I thought he threw the ball pretty well, other than the fifth inning,” manager Bob Melvin said of Lugo.

Lugo, who has a $7.5 million player option for 2024, had gone 3-1 with a 0.75 ERA over his previous four starts. In eight of his previous nine outings, he yielded two earned runs or fewer.

“I thought the [Jeremy] Peña at-bat in the fifth [a single], if the ball gets in a little tighter, it's a double play,” Lugo said. “Or at least one out. The Tucker at-bat, I was trying to pitch around him, and I left a ball over the plate. I wasn't trying to throw a strike there, but it ended up in the zone.”

“They were stringing hits together,” Melvin said. “What was it, eight out of nine? And the one ball that was an out [a liner to third by Alex Bregman], it was hit hard, as well. The fifth inning ruled the day, and they put together really good at-bats throughout the lineup.”

Entering Sunday’s rubber game, one bit of consolation is that San Diego’s offense has come alive in Houston, where the Friars scored a combined 16 runs while splitting the first two games in the three-game set.

After Alvarez’s third-inning blast, the Padres gave Lugo a 4-1 cushion to work with thanks to a four-run fourth where each run scored with two outs. As part of the sequence, San Diego saw its bottom four hitters all consecutively reach base.

Luis Campusano blooped an RBI single to center, scoring Juan Soto after his leadoff walk. Then, in his first start since rejoining the Padres, Jurickson Profar blasted a 93 mph fastball from Houston’s Cristian Javier over the right-field wall. With an exit velocity of 104.8 mph, according to Statcast, Profar’s towering shot soared a projected 368 feet.

Trent Grisham capped the frame by doubling in Matthew Batten, who reached on a walk.

“It was the bottom of our order that did the damage,” Melvin said.

Profar, who started at first base, went 3-for-4 and was a triple shy of the cycle. Profar, who was released by the Rockies on Aug. 27, signed a Minor League deal with the Padres on Aug. 31 and was promoted from Triple-A El Paso on Friday.

“I wasn't in Colorado, and I've never felt that good,” Profar said with a laugh and smile. “I felt great. This culture … it's my culture. The energy that this team brings, and the players that are in here, are my style.

“It felt good to be back." “It would've been better had we got a ‘W.’”

Later, after Houston’s five-run fifth, those bottom-of-the-order Padres mounted another rally in the sixth against Astros reliever Kendall Graveman. The same four hitters all reached consecutively, again, with Batten’s single cutting the lead to 7-5 and Grisham’s walk loading the bases with one out.

But with the potential tying run in scoring position, Hector Neris relieved Graveman and induced popouts by Ha-Seong Kim and Fernando Tatis Jr. to extinguish the threat.

San Diego is now 19-41 in games decided by two runs or fewer and nine games below .500 despite a +71 run differential.

“Here recently, it's been one big inning that cost us, and it did again tonight,” Melvin said.