HOUSTON — The Mets’ Cookie crumbled Wednesday, but perhaps not badly enough to warrant long-term concern.

True, Carlos “Cookie” Carrasco was pounded in his abbreviated start against the Astros before departing with the trainer, but lower back tightness (as was the diagnosis) isn’t a shoulder, elbow or oblique that might leave a gaping hole in the rotation.

The good news stopped there for the Mets, who couldn’t overcome Carrasco’s erratic performance and watched their offense stall in a 5-3 loss at Minute Maid Park. The Mets lost both games in the short series and extended their losing streak to eight games in this ballpark since 2011.

“I think I am going to be fine,” said Carrasco, who will receive an MRI exam on Thursday.

Carrasco got ambushed from the start. After Jose Altuve walked leading off in the first, Michael Brantley stroked an RBI double and Alex Bregman followed with a two-run homer. Yordan Alvarez’s ensuing homer gave the Astros their fourth run. Carrasco faced eight batters in the inning.

After working a perfect second inning, Carrasco surrendered a one-out homer to Alvarez in the third. The blast was Alvarez’s third of the series and gave him 21 this season, moving him into a tie for second, behind Aaron Judge, for the MLB lead. After Carrasco walked Kyle Tucker, he received a visit from manager Buck Showalter, pitching coach Jeremy Hefner and trainer Joseph Golia, and departed.

“Every pitch they hit out it was just right there in the middle — I couldn’t finish my pitches,” Carrasco said, adding that he felt the lower-back tightness from the beginning and it intensified as he progressed.

Showalter said the team doesn’t foresee Carrasco needing an injured list stint, but the test results will tell more. Already, the Mets have Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer and Tylor Megill on the IL.

The Mets received a boost from their bullpen — Yoan Lopez, Tommy Hunter, Joely Rodriguez and Edwin Diaz combined on 5 ²/₃ scoreless innings — but the lineup sputtered. Front and center was Eduardo Escobar, who popped out with the bases loaded in the sixth before striking out as the tying run in the eighth. The veteran infielder is stuck in a 4-for-33 (.121) slump. Overall he owns a disappointing .231/.291/.393 slash line.

“There aren’t any excuses,” Escobar said. “I come here every day. I come to work early. But at the same time the results haven’t been there so far. I am going to continue to work hard. I am going to continue to have faith and we still have a lot of time. It’s still early. I am expecting to wake up and show everybody what type of player I really am.”

Showalter said he’s considered giving Escobar days off to regroup mentally, but the Mets have also been short-handed since Monday, when Jeff McNeil departed with right hamstring discomfort. McNeil has avoided the IL and will likely return this weekend.

“[Escobar] brings so much to us in some other areas,” Showalter said. “He hit a home run [Tuesday] night, he’s got some big hits for us. I try to consider everything, but where we are in the infield with Mac we have got to be careful about our flexibility and ability to do things.”

Dominic Smith’s double leading off the third inning led to the Mets scoring their first run, on Brandon Nimmo’s sacrifice fly. Smith played first base — his first start since his recall from Triple-A Syracuse on Monday.

The Mets pulled within 5-2 in the sixth on Starling Marte’s RBI double against Luis Garcia that followed a walk to Nimmo. Pete Alonso’s sacrifice fly brought in another run. But with the bases loaded, the Mets missed a huge opportunity against Ryne Stanek as Escobar popped out and Smith struck out. Luis Guillorme’s double and a walk to Mark Canha had loaded the bases following Francisco Lindor’s single.

In the eighth, Escobar whiffed on a high fastball.

“It’s one of those things, [Escobar] knows how they are going to pitch him,” Showalter said. “There are times when he goes through periods where he’s able to stay off that and get it down, but what’s tough is you lay off it and it’s called a strike. Then all of a sudden you feel like you have got to defend it. That’s what is challenging for you and it’s frustrating for him.”