MEXICO CITY -- Playing for a team that can’t afford any misstep, the Rockies’ Brenton Doyle knows in his heart -- and the side of his right foot -- that he didn’t make one on Saturday afternoon.

But a fifth-inning call contradicted what Doyle knew to be correct during the Rockies’ 12-4 loss to the Astros in the opener of the two-game Mexico City Series at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú.

With two outs in the fifth and Colorado trailing, 4-2, Doyle was ruled out after being judged to have missed third base while trying to score on Elias Díaz’s liner into left field. The out was called on appeal, and the decision stood after a replay review.

“I didn’t get a clean touch, but I touched it,” Doyle said. “From their [the Astros’] view in the dugout, it didn’t look like I touched it. But I touched it with the side of my foot.

“The replay booth [in the Rockies’ clubhouse] said I touched it. I’m confident that I touched it. If I didn’t feel my foot touch anything, I would’ve shut it down.”

At 7-20, the Rockies have not had much good happen. There’s no guarantee they would have rode that momentum to a victory. But the downfall from the call was precipitous.

The Rockies arrived in the country looking for consecutive wins for the first time this season. Ryan McMahon’s two-run homer in the bottom of the first off Ronel Blanco gave them a rare early lead, 2-0. It was just the fifth time they had scored first in a game this season.

“I said on the air that I thought that was ‘Mac’s best swing of the year,” manager Bud Black said. “It was a fastball with velocity, and a short swing -- compact. He barreled it.”

Consecutive Astros home runs in the third off Cal Quantrill -- by Yordan Alvarez for two runs (the first of his two homers) and by Kyle Tucker on a fly helped by altitude -- put the Rockies in a 4-2 hole. That wasn’t new.

They’ve trailed at some point in all 27 games this season. If they fall behind in Sunday’s finale, they’ll match the 1910 St. Louis Browns’ record (since 1900) for trailing at some point in their first 28 games of a season.

But on Díaz’s hard-hit ball with two out and two on, it appeared the Rockies were giving themselves a chance to overcome the early deficit and even cut into another negative: hitting with runners in scoring position.

Not only was the inning over, but Díaz lost his hit, with the play officially ruled a fielder’s choice. Díaz, who as a catcher works hard at avoiding frustrated body language, banged his batting helmet against the dirt near first base when the Rockies’ replay challenge was denied.

“It was pretty straightforward in our opinion,” Black said.

Quantrill, who felt he threw well outside of Alvarez’s first homer of the game, called the play “game-changing -- I tend to believe Doyle. It looked like he tripped over the bag.”

The Astros scored two runs charged to Quantrill in the top of the sixth, and kept going.

“It just feels like we can’t catch a break as a team,” McMahon said. “We were in it at that point, and I feel like it started to cascade the other way after that.”

The denial of Doyle’s run and Díaz’s hit were part of the Rockies’ 2-for-11 performance with runners in scoring position -- leaving their season average at .238 (53-for-223).

The hits were by Charlie Blackmon and Elehuris Montero with two out in the ninth, bringing in runners who moved to scoring position via defensive indifference by Houston. For the season, Colorado is hitting .163 (15-for-92) with two out and runners in scoring position.

The Rockies just would like to have had a chance to combat all that after getting a run that they -- and especially Doyle -- believe they deserved. Instead, the Astros (8-19) finally received their break while ending their losing streak at five games.