HOUSTON — Andrew Triggs was pleased to have pitched one of the best games of his career Saturday night.
He was much more excited that his work helped the Oakland Athletics end their longest losing streak of the season.
“That’s the most important thing,” he said. “You’re here to win series and we’re in a position to do that (Sunday). So it was nice to get a good team win.”
Khris Davis clubbed his 10th home run to back a solid start by Triggs and Oakland beat the Houston Astros 2-1 to snap a five-game skid.
Oakland ended a 10-game losing streak against the Astros, which was the longest in franchise history against Houston.
Jed Lowrie put Oakland up 1-0 in the fourth with a homer to right field off Joe Musgrove (1-2), and Davis gave the Athletics an insurance run when he connected against Will Harris with two outs in the eighth.
Triggs (4-1) gave up five hits while setting career highs with seven innings and nine strikeouts. His four wins are tied for first in the American League, and he’s the first Oakland pitcher to throw seven scoreless innings with at least nine strikeouts and no walks since Jeff Samardzija in 2014.
Triggs bounced back after allowed five hits and six runs in his last start against Seattle.
“To pitch as well as he did and go through the lineup three times, give us seven innings of work was pretty good,” manager Bob Melvin said. “He had the one off outing and every (other) outing has been pretty spotless.”
Jose Altuve hit a solo homer off Sean Doolittle with two outs in the eighth, but Santiago Casilla pitched a scoreless ninth for his fourth save.
Davis, who is tied with Aaron Judge for the AL home run lead, has three homers in this series after hitting two and driving in four runs in the opener Friday night.
Musgrove allowed five hits and a run with six strikeouts in a season-high 6 1/3 innings.
Musgrove retired his first 10 batters before Lowrie launched his second home run this season into the seats in right field with one out in the fourth inning to make it 1-0.
There were runners at first and second with two outs in the fifth when Lowrie singled. Chad Pinder was thrown out at home on the play to keep the Athletics from adding to their lead.
Josh Reddick and Altuve hit consecutive singles with one out in the first for Houston, but Triggs escaped the jam by striking out the next two batters to end the inning.
“We just couldn’t quite figure him out,” Houston 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 was certainly impressive and we lost the battle at the critical times.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Athletics: LHP Sean Manaea was feeling better Saturday, giving Melvin hope that he won’t have to go on the disabled list. Manaea left his start Wednesday with shoulder tightness and is likely to miss at least one start. … RHP Sonny Gray, who opened the season on the disabled list with a strained right shoulder, will return to start on Tuesday at Minnesota. … Melvin said that OF Rajai Davis (strained left hamstring) is getting better and should also return for the Minnesota series next week.
Astros: Houston OF Jake Marisnick, who is on the 7-day concussion list, started a rehabilitation assignment with Double-A Corpus Christi on Saturday. He’ll likely play a couple of games there before rejoining the Astros on Monday.
WATT A PITCH
Houston Texans star defensive end J.J. Watt threw out the ceremonial first pitch . The three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year threw a strike to Houston ace Dallas Keuchel and got a big ovation from the home crowd.
UP NEXT
Athletics: Right-hander Jesse Hahn will make his fourth start and fifth appearance in the series finale on Sunday. Hahn allowed one hit and walked two in eight innings of Oakland’s 11-inning loss to the Angels in his last start.
Astros: Keuchel looks to improve to 5-0 when he starts for Houston on Sunday. The left-hander ranks third in the majors with a 1.22 ERA and is coming off a complete game in his last start where he allowed six hits and two runs in a 4-2 win over Cleveland.
