It all nearly came undone in the second inning, when Tanner Houck faced a bases loaded jam with three-time MVP Mike Trout coming to the plate.

But the Red Sox starter struck out the Los Angeles Angels superstar to escape the jam with minimal damage, and from that point on Houck was off to the races.

Coming off a stretch where he has frequently gotten crushed by opposing lineups the second and third times through the order, Houck got better as the night went on in what was without a doubt his best start of the season. He allowed one run over six innings while striking out eight, but the Red Sox bats couldn’t give him any run support and the Angels wound up earning the 2-1 win on a Mickey Moniak solo home run off Kutter Crawford in the eighth.

“He did an outstanding job,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said of Houck. “Changing speeds, using his good slider, good fastball too, it was a good one for him.”

Houck worked his way through an uneventful first before running into trouble in the second. He allowed a walk, a single and then an RBI groundout by Luis Rengifo to put the Angels on the board, and after that hit a batter and allowed another single to load the bases for Trout.

Facing a similar spot as Corey Kluber in Sunday’s loss to San Diego, Houck leaned on his stuff and got Trout to foul off back-to-back sliders, the latter of which found its way into Connor Wong’s glove to end the inning. From that point on Houck fed the Angels a stead diet of sliders, splitters and cutters, ultimately retiring 12 of the last 13 batters he faced.

Houck’s stuff was filthy throughout and overall he drew 17 whiffs, including on 7 of 13 sliders and 6 of 11 splitters. He also got Trout and fellow MVP Shohei Ohtani to go 0 for 5 with four strikeouts and a walk in what was certainly a statement outing ahead of the club’s imminent rotation shakeup.

And yet the offense couldn’t capitalize.

Boston has now only managed one run in its last 23 innings, and Monday the lineup was flat out uncompetitive. The Red Sox managed four hits with no walks against the Angels staff, with the lone run coming after Connor Wong doubled and came in to score on a Masataka Yoshida grounder that bounced high off the glove of first baseman Jared Walsh in the sixth.

That tied the score at 1-1, but after Moniak took Crawford deep in the eighth the Red Sox couldn’t come up with any response in the ninth. The game wound up wrapping up at 11:43 p.m. ET after only 2:05, one of the quickest games of the year and one of the earliest finishes for a Red Sox west coast game in recent memory.

With the loss the Red Sox fall to 26-22 on the season. Brayan Bello (3-1, 4.45 ERA) will get the ball for Boston on Tuesday against Angels starter Griffin Canning (2-2, 6.14). First pitch is scheduled for 9:38 p.m. ET.