The Red Sox left for their longest trip of the year on a five-game winning streak, and extended it to six games in their series opener in Seattle. They went 2-6 the rest of the way, and returned home on a five-game losing streak.

“Obviously the road trip didn’t kind of go how we wanted,” Trevor Story said as he stood in the Fenway clubhouse on Friday afternoon.

Yet despite how much these 40-42 Red Sox have fallen down, they maintain that good things are coming.

“(We were) playing good ball, I feel like, for a sustained amount of time before that,” Story continued, “so we’re not far. It might — kind of sometimes feels like we’re far away.”

“In terms of the mood of the team, I think there’s a lot of belief in what we’re capable of doing,” chief baseball officer Craig Breslow told the Herald.

The verdict on the Rafael Devers trade will take years, but the immediate results are as expected:

The Red Sox are a far less productive team at the plate without him. They entered Friday averaging 3.1 runs per game since the trade, nearly two full runs less than they did with Devers. It’s far from the only reason the Red Sox have fallen under .500 again and dropped five in a row, but it’s a driving force in their ongoing struggles to keep their heads above water.

The buzzwords on this team are consistency and inconsistency.

“There’s been inconsistency to our play across all aspects,” Breslow said. “We put up good at-bats and we don’t pitch, or we pitch really well and we’re not scoring runs. Or we’re pitching really well and scoring some runs but we’re not playing defense or we’re not running the bases … the hitting is always going to kind of go up and down, but we need to be able to rely on pitching and defense to keep us in games every day.”

“Consistency is what we need to dial in on a daily basis, with the defense, the base running,” Story said.

Then, in a sentiment loaded with Devers subtext, Story said, “Putting together the big swing throughout the game, I think it doesn’t have to always be the big swing, and I think we can find ways to win games, whether it’s small-ball or using our speed. I think we can just do a little better job of that. Obviously losing Raffy, his presence and his power, and with (Alex Bregman) down right now, we gotta find different ways.”

There is an irony to all of this for Story, who missed most of the last two seasons due to injuries. Now he’s finally, not just healthy, but heating up at the plate; after batting .158 with a .432 OPS in 25 games last month, he entered Friday hitting .274 with a .771 OPS in 21 June games. Coming into the Blue Jays series, Story’s 44 double plays turned was tied for second among MLB shortstops.

But his team is still struggling.

“It’s frustrating,” the veteran shortstop told the Herald. “The inconsistency is probably the most frustrating part. We’ve shown flashes of it over like, a 10-game or 14-game stretch, but it’s about stopping the bleeding.”

“It’s been tough, but you know, baseball’s tough,” Story said “We feel like we’re gonna be who we’re supposed to be at the end of the year.”

Change coming for Houck

Tanner Houck’s most recent rehab start for the WooSox did not go well. The right-hander allowed four runs over 1.2 innings, all of which came in a laborious second inning in which Houck allowed three hits, two walks and a hit batsman.

Houck similarly struggled to put hitters away in his first rehab start, so next time out on Sunday the Red Sox plan to try something different.

“Sunday there’s going to be an opener and he’s going to come in from the bullpen,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said pregame on Friday. “This doesn’t have to do with the future, it’s kind of like a change of scenery to see if we can get him going.”

Prior to going on the 15-day injured list with a right flexor pronator strain, Houck had been in the middle of the worst stretch of his career. The 28-year-old has posted an 8.04 ERA through his first nine starts, including a pair of calamitous outings in which he allowed 11 earned runs each.

With a full five-man rotation plus newly acquired left-hander Kyle Harrison available in Worcester, there’s no guarantee Houck will return to the rotation upon his eventual return. Though Cora was careful to emphasize that Houck’s next outing shouldn’t be taken as an indicator of his future role, the possibility he could return as a reliever looks increasingly realistic.

Slaten to ramp up

Cora provided some good injury news relating to right-hander Justin Slaten (right shoulder inflammation), who has been on the IL since June 1 and hasn’t thrown in nearly a month. Cora said Slaten will begin throwing on Saturday, starting by playing catch before ramping up from there.

Prior to his injury Slaten was one of Boston’s top set-up men, posting a 3.47 ERA in 24 appearances.

Extra innings

Outfielder Masataka Yoshida (right shoulder labral repair) could begin a rehab assignment as soon as Tuesday. … Bregman (right quad strain) hit on Friday and is expected to take grounders on Saturday. “He’s progressing well. No timetable yet,” Cora said. … Right-hander Nick Burdi (right foot contusion) is having an issue with his hip and has been shut down. … Right-hander Liam Hendriks (right hip inflammation) is playing catch up to 150 feet. … Infielder Marcelo Mayer (bereavement leave) will return to the team on Monday.