No flyover, no fireworks, no fun. The day after the Fourth of July, the Braves fell right back in the rut they've been in, losing to the Houston Astros 6-1 for their sixth loss in seven games.

Beating the Astros Friday proved just a hiatus from what's been ailing the Braves. Saturday, they got another surprisingly ineffective start from one of their young guns this week — Jo-Jo Reyes — and a not-so-surprising result from their offense.

Brant Sanderlin / AJC (ENLARGE)

Right fielder Jason Perry makes a running catch in the second.

Brant Sanderlin / AJC/Staff (ENLARGE)

Shortstop Yunel Escobar bare-hands a grounder after it bounces off reliever Jeff Bennett.

Brant Sanderlin / AJC (ENLARGE)

Chipper Jones grimaces after fouling off a pitch in the ninth inning. Jones struck out swinging to end the game and went 0-for-4 to drop his average to .385.

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The Braves managed only two hits and a run against Chris Sampson, who was making a spot start in place of Astros ace Roy Oswalt. They had four hits in the game and scored on Brian McCann's 15th homer of the year, a solo shot.

"It was pathetic, absolutely pathetic tonight," said Chipper Jones, who was 0-for-4 with a strikeout. "We got three baserunners tonight [outside of McCann]. That's pathetic against anybody."

The Braves had been struggling with runners in scoring position. This night, the only runner who even got to second base was McCann as he crossed it on his fifth-inning homer. The other three hits were singles. Nobody else reached.

"We just didn't swing the bats," McCann said.

Charlie Morton, Jorge Campillo and Jair Jurrjens all got hit around in losses to the Phillies this week. Against the Astros, it was Reyes' turn. He gave up four runs in the first two innings on his way to a third consecutive loss. His last loss – 1-0 to Toronto on Sunday – was bad luck. This time, it was bad location.

He walked two batters in the first two innings and watched both of them score. He gave up four runs, all on two-out hits, including a run-scoring single on a 3-0 pitch to Miguel Tejada. Mark Loretta gave him fits, hitting two of his three doubles off Reyes on a four-RBI night.

"He missed his spots again too much," manager Bobby Cox said. "Too many walks. Too many pitches. He was terrific last time out, couldn't miss his spots. Tonight he couldn't hit them."

Reyes lasted only 4 1/3 innings, which was two outs fewer than Sampson, a reliever who hadn't started a game since May 25. He started to give Oswalt a few extra days to rest his hip.

Sampson outlasted Reyes by going five innings and threw only 55 pitches to Reyes' 86.

"I missed my spots, and they took advantage of it," said Reyes, now 3-7 with a 4.40 ERA. "I felt good. It was just one of those nights I wasn't able to put it where I wanted to."

Houston had lost four in a row coming into Saturday, which dropped them to last place in the NL Central, but the Astros also had won their last four starts against a left-hander.

They pelted left-handed Reyes for six hits. Cox came out to replace Reyes with runners first and third in the fifth after Loretta had doubled for the second time and advanced on a groundout.

Amazingly, Manny Acosta got Reyes out of the jam by bouncing an inside pitch to Tejada off the backstop. It ricocheted all the way out to first baseman Mark Teixeira, who gunned down Loretta at home.

It was about the only thing that went the Braves' way.

"It's been a weird season so far," McCann said. "We can't get anything rolling. We need to start winning series, so that's our goal now ... to start winning every series. We've still got tomorrow."

A win today, and the Braves salvage the series. If not, it'll be their fourth series loss in their last five. They're already trailing the Phillies by seven games.