Houston forward Alberth Elis scored a pair of goals to power the Dynamo past the Chicago Fire in the teams' last meeting in May 2018.
No such heroics rescued the Dynamo on Saturday when they fell to the Fire 1-0 at BBVA Stadium.
Despite the tight pack in the middle of the Western Conference standings, the loss stalls Houston (9-11-3, 30 points) as it aims to keep up with the playoff pack. Compounding the Dynamo's problems, Elis was handed a 44th minute yellow card; triggering another suspension in just his first game back from another which he incurred during the team's loss to Atlanta in July.