BOSTON

Hanley Ramirez handed the Boston Red Sox another well-timed win.

Ramirez connected with a one-handed swing for a goahead, two-run homer in the seventh inning that the Red Sox over the Houston Astros, 5-4 Sunday.

“I was sitting on a changeup. I was still in front, but put a good follow-through,” he said, adding he’d hit “a couple” home runs in similar fashion. “Not a lot, but I’ve done it before.”

Ramirez hooked a low pitch into the first row of the Green Monster seats against Tony Sipp (2-4) after David Ortiz walked.

Ryan Hanigan and Pablo Sandoval each had three hits as the Red Sox won their third straight series. They hadn’t done that since taking their first three of the season.

“Everybody went nuts,” Hanigan said of the Ramirez homer. “Jumped on him when he got in the dugout, pounded his head.”

Astros manager A.J. Hinch felt it was a tough break on a good pitch by Sipp.

“That one in particular is a below-the-zone changeup that Hanley got on his front foot, one arm, popped it up to left at the most critical time,” Hinch said. “So there’s a little bit of unlucky there.”

Rookie Carlos Correa and Evan Gattis hit consecutive homers over the Monster for A.L. West-leading Houston, which lost its second in a row after a five-game winning streak.

Matt Barnes (3-2) got the victory, striking out the only batter he faced. Koji Uehara worked the ninth for his 19th save.

Trailing 3-1 in the seventh, the Astros jumped ahead on the back-to-back homers off Alexi Ogando. Correa’s went to left-center before Gattis’ barely cleared the wall.

Boston was aided by errors on consecutive plays in taking a 3-1 edge against Will Harris. Ramirez reached on Correa’s wild throw from shortstop, and scored when Gattis bobbled Sandoval’s double into the left field corner. Hanigan added his second RBI single.

Boston rookie left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez struck out eight over five innings, allowing one run, six hits and walking two. It’s the sixth time in eight starts he’s given up one or no runs.

Astros starter Lance McCullers gave up one run and seven hits in five innings.

Friday night

Josh Altuve had three hits and two RBIs to lead the Astros to a 12-8 win in 10 innings.

Noe Ramirez, making his Red Sox debut, suffered the loss. Red Sox first baseman Mike Napoli made a key error in the 10th, and Houston’s Carlos Correa followed with a tie-breaking single to give the Astros the lead. Jon Singleton added a two-run single, and Domingo Santana stole home for the final Houston run.

Down 8-7, Ortiz doubled in the tying run for Boston.

Saturday afternoon

Clay Buchholz became the first Red Sox starting pitcher to pitch a complete game in Boston’s 6-1 win.

Houston saw its five-game winning streak snapped.

Buchholz pitched a six-hitter to win his fourth straight start. He struck out eight and didn’t walk a hitter. He is 3-0 all-time against Houston with a 1.38 ERA.

Mookie Betts hit two RBI doubles to pace the Boston offense, and Sandy Leon chipped in three hits. Xander Bogaerts drove in a pair of runs.