HOUSTON -- For the fourth time in five starts this season, Oakland Athletics right-hander Andrew Triggs pitched with an effectiveness that belied his relative inexperience as a starter.

At this level of performance, expectations will continue to rise.

Triggs rebounded splendidly from his worst outing of the season, recording a career-high nine strikeouts while pitching the scuffling Oakland Athletics to a 2-1 victory over the Houston Astros on Saturday night at Minute Maid Park.

Triggs, who joined the rotation Aug. 11, limiting the Astros (15-9) to five hits, all singles. He did not walk a batter and lowered his ERA to 1.84 in his 12th career start. The seven innings pitched represented a career high for Triggs (4-1).

"We're not really swinging the bats right now. We scored two runs and you have a lineup that you expect to score a lot of runs," Athletics manager Bob Melvin said. "So to pitch as well as he did and go through the lineup three times, give us seven innings of work was pretty good. He had the one off outing (against the Seattle Mariners on April 23) and every (other) outing has been pretty spotless."

The Athletics (11-13) snapped a five-game skid by complementing Triggs' strong start with a pair of home runs.

Second baseman Jed Lowrie took Astros right-hander Joe Musgrove (1-2) deep in the fourth inning before left fielder Khris Davis cranked his fifth home run against the Astros this season and 10th overall the opposite way to right field off reliever Will Harris with two outs in the eighth.

Davis has hit three opposite-field homers this series, all against right-handers.

"The guy's got some sort of power," Lowrie said of Davis. "At this point I think it's fair to call it special."

Oakland needed Davis' insurance because Astros second baseman Jose Altuve belted a homer off Athletics southpaw Sean Doolittle with two outs in the eighth, his third homer halving the deficit. But Oakland closer Santiago Casilla got his fourth save by inducing a game-ending double play from catcher Brian McCann.

Musgrove carried the momentum he built down the stretch of his previous start against the Tampa Bay Rays, an outing that included Musgrove surrendering four runs on five hits in the first inning only to reel off five consecutive no-hit frames.

Against Oakland, Musgrove retired his first 10 batters.

Lowrie snapped that string with his second homer, ricocheting a 3-1 pitch off the upper-deck facade in right field.

"I made a mistake to Lowrie and those mistakes get made throughout the game," said Musgrove, who allowed one run and five hits over a season-high 6 1/3 innings. "But when you get behind a guy 3-0 the likelihood of him capitalizing on that mistake is much greater. I've just got to do a better job of executing a better pitch. I don't want to give in to him and try to fool him with some breaking stuff, I wanted to challenge him with the fastball and I just let it leak middle."

Triggs stranded two baserunners in the first, third and fourth innings. He found his groove in the fifth and retired the side in order over his final three frames. After squandering those early opportunities, the Astros didn't get any chances to rally until Triggs departed having not allowed an earned run for a fourth time.

"We just couldn't quite figure him out," Astros manager A.J. Hinch said of Triggs. "We never really looked comfortable against him. We got a couple balls we put in play really hard but he was pretty deceptive. He had two breaking balls, he threw strikes, he cross fired to righties. He kept the lefties off-balance. He's done this to the entire league except for one start, one swing where he gave up a grand slam. He was certainly impressive and we lost the battle at the critical times."

NOTES: Astros CF Jake Marisnick began a rehab assignment with Double-A Corpus Christi on Saturday, finishing 2-for-5 with a double and a run scored as the Hooks' designated hitter. Marisnick landed on the seven-day concussion disabled list April 25 after running into the outfield wall at Tampa Bay on Sunday. ... Athletics RHP Raul Alcantara was outrighted to Triple-A Nashville on Saturday, four days after being designated for assignment. Oakland also reinstated 2B Joey Wendle from the disabled list. Wendle landed on the DL on March 30 with a strained right shoulder. ... Athletics LHP Sean Manaea played catch out to 120 feet and showcased enough improvement that he will likely avoid a stint on the disabled list. Manaea was pulled from his last start Wednesday with shoulder tightness and is on course to have his next turn in the rotation skipped.