ARLINGTON -- Tanner Houck's recent tailspin continued on Saturday night at Globe Life Field, at least by the numbers.

A 7-4 loss to the Rangers left Houck at 8-8 for the season and his ERA jumped to 3.09, the first time he has been at 3 or above all season.

The overall numbers are fine. The concern is how he’s trending of late.

In his first 16 starts of the season, through June 24, Houck had a 2.18 ERA while allowing just two home runs and holding the opposition to a .211 average and .528 OPS. In 103 1/3 innings, he walked 18 and had 101 strikeouts.

That was the body of work that earned Houck a trip to his first All-Star Game.

The last six starts, culminating in Saturday’s performance (5-plus innings, eight hits, six runs, two walks, seven strikeouts), have been a much different story. In that span, Houck has a 6.16 ERA while allowing six homers; opponents have a .290 average against him and an .848 OPS. In those 30 2/3 innings, Houck has 17 walks and 22 strikeouts.

Houck had a 3-0 lead by the time he took the ball for the bottom of the fourth but lost all of it on two pivotal swings -- back-to-back homers by Jonah Heim (three-run shot) and Leody Taveras.

For Houck, Saturday’s outing represented a hope of an imminent rebound. In the first three innings, he pitched his best baseball in weeks.

Then came the fourth inning, and the misfires to Heim and Taveras.

“Two pitches I feel like I didn't execute very well,” said Houck. “Ultimately, I feel like the fourth inning, that's all it really was. The rest of the game, I felt like I pounded the zone and threw a lot of strikes and feel like I haven’t been doing that the past month.”

Houck came armed with some data -- likely provided to him by pitching coach Andrew Bailey -- to back up his optimism.

“Yeah, I mean, that's kind of the conversation me and Bailey had in the dugout,” Houck said. “The line is the line, can’t take it back. It's not what you want to see, but ultimately, strides in the right direction. I think in total, it was like 72 percent strikes, 68 percent first-pitch strikes. I’ve just got to refine even more and not make those two mistakes.”

At 134 innings, Houck has soared past his career high not only in the Majors, but his previous professional high of 119 in 2018.

It’s fair to wonder if fatigue is a factor.

“Not really,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “I think today the pitches were really good. Obviously he’s had some tough ones, but the slider was really good. It happened fairly quickly against the bottom of the order but I think he threw the ball well.”

With the Red Sox 6 1/2 games back in the American League East and 2 1/2 off the pace in the Wild Card standings, Houck’s ability to rebound soon could have a big impact on his team’s chances of making the playoffs.

Refsnyder’s monster night

If anyone looked primed to carry the Red Sox to victory on Saturday, it was Rob Refsnyder, who bashed a pair of homers off lefty starter Cody Bradford and got on base five times in his 4-for-4, three-RBI performance.

“Outstanding,” said Cora. “I mean, he's been great for us. Just the quality of the at-bats. I know a lot of people only see him as a platoon guy, like he [just] faces lefties. But we have the confidence that he's a guy that when they bring in a righty, there's some good matchups, too. Two good swings early on. The [single] in the last at-bat [against Rangers closer Kirby Yates], he was just grinding. It was a great night for him.”

Wong’s first start at first

Connor Wong held up quite well making his first career start at first base, making a diving stop in the 3-4 hole to rob Corey Seager of a hit just two batters into the bottom of the first and later snaring a line drive that took a hit away from Nathaniel Lowe in the fourth. He also deftly scooped a throw by Rafael Devers in the fifth.

With the newly-acquired Danny Jansen now on the club as the backup catcher, there could be nights when Wong starts at first or second base against lefties. Judging by Saturday, he looks up to the challenge.