Davis hits 10th HR of season.
HOUSTON — Andrew Triggs was coming off his only rough outing of the season. He shook it off Saturday, and how.
The reliever-turned-starter worked a career-high seven innings as Oakland beat firstplace Houston 2-1. He didn’t allow a run and struck out a career-high nine batters, helping the A’s end a five-game losing streak and solidifying his spot in the rotation when Sonny Gray returns next week.
Triggs, Oakland’s No. 4 starter while Gray has been out, has made five starts and hasn’t allowed an earned run in four of them. In his start against Seattle on April 23, however, he gave up six runs in 42⁄3 innings.
“He had the one off outing, and every other one has been pretty spotless,” manager Bob Melvin said.
“Last outing, my cutterslider wasn’t as sharp as I wanted it to be. I wasn’t commanding it as well as I wanted,” Triggs said. “I wasn’t overly concerned, pitches come and go, sometimes they’re there, sometimes they’re not. I was confident it would be back in the equation at some point.”
Triggs (4-1) had his slider, his curveball and his fastball all going, a boon for catcher Stephen Vogt.
“He was executing all three pitches, both sides of the plate, keeping them off balance,” Vogt said. “When they started to sit on the slider, we snuck some heaters by ’em. Any time a pitcher gives you three pitches to work with, it’s not too complicated to call a game for them.”
Deft as Triggs was — allowing five hits and not walking a batter — he didn’t shy away from drama, having to work out of trouble several times. In the first inning he struck out the heart of Houston’s order, Carlos Correa and Carlos Beltran, to strand two men in scoring position. And in the third, with two on and two outs, he got Correa to ground out to end the inning.
“Those were some highstress innings, and some guys made some great plays behind me,” Triggs said.
At the head of the queue, right fielder Jaff Decker, who threw out Beltran trying to advance to third on Brian McCann’s flyball in the fourth. “A bullet,” second baseman Jed Lowrie said.
“We haven’t been too terribly good defensively this year, and to get a play like that was a big momentum shift,” Melvin said.
Evan Gattis’ single then put men at the corners, but Triggs struck out Alex Bregman to end the inning.
No. 5 starter Jesse Hahn, who is pitching Sunday, has a 2.08 ERA, and opponents are batting .174 against him. While he’s a candidate to move into long relief upon Gray’s return Tuesday, the most logical choice to come out of the rotation is No. 3 starter Jharel Cotton. The rookie has shown flashes of excellence but has a 5.00 ERA, has allowed 43 baserunners in 31 innings and might benefit from more time at Triple-A Nashville.
Lowrie and Khris Davis supplied Oakland’s offense with a solo homer each. Davis’ 10 homers lead the league, and he’s on pace for 67, which maybe should have dissuaded the fan in right from throwing the home-run ball back.
“All he has to do is get it in the air and touch it,” Melvin said of Davis’ opposite-field power. “There aren’t too many like him.”
Astros right fielder Josh Reddick continued to bedevil his former team, throwing Chad Pinder out at the plate in the fifth. A leaping catch by first baseman Yonder Alonso in the fifth prevented what would have been Reddick’s second hit of the night.
Vogt ended an 0-for-10 streak with a single in the seventh, but he came out the final two innings in favor of Josh Phegley, a nod to Houston’s running game. Vogt is 1-for-13 in catching opposing base stealers.
Houston’s run came on Jose Altuve’s homer off Sean Doolittle in the eighth. Santiago Casilla recorded his fourth save in five attempts. Susan Slusser is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sslusser@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @susanslusser