HOUSTON — Coming into the series at Minute Maid Park, the question was: Could red-hot Oakland keep up the pace against AL West foes? The A’s had done most of their recent damage against the other two AL divisions and NL teams.

Facing the defending-champion Astros in their home yard was no problem, it turned out.

Oakland took three of four from Houston, Thursday’s win being another late comeback victory, this time 6-4. Were it not for a fluke play in the 11th inning Tuesday, the A’s might have swept the series.

“This is a venue where the world champions are and they’ve had a pretty good time with us over the past few years,” manager Bob Melvin said. “We just continue to get better and better and more confident as the season goes along.”

Josh Reddick, who spent 4½ seasons in Oakland, was on the wrong end of the A’s hot streak.

“The last four games stunk. I’ll tell you that straight up,” the Astros’ outfielder said. “They are playing really good baseball. They’ve got a good, young core over there that can really play baseball.”

More Information 12 Games over .500 for the A’s, who have a major-league-best 19-5 record over the past 24 games. Oakland trails first-place Houston by 8 games in the AL West.

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The A’s moved 12 games over .500, their high-water mark since the end of the 2014 season. Oakland has won 19 of 24, the best record in the majors in that span.

“We’re a confident group and we know we’re capable of playing like this,” outfielder Mark Canha said. “We’re in a mind-set where we come to the field expecting to win every day. It’s kind of a thing that snowballs.”

The A’s, who trailed 4-0 after four innings, had cut the deficit to 4-3 before Khris Davis opened the eighth by extending his career-best hitting streak to 14 (the major’s longest active mark) with a hit off Chris Devenski. Matt Olson also singled before Matt Chapman smacked a 3-2 pitch down the line in left to score Davis and tie the game. With one out, Canha lifted another 3-2 pitch into the corner in left, driving in two more.

“Their at-bats were exceptional this series,” Houston manager A.J. Hinch said.

Canha wasn’t certain if the ball was fair or foul, but did think it was a home run. After a review, the call stood — but Canha was only at first. “I should have been running, but I was standing there like an idiot, willing it to stay fair,” Canha said. “I didn’t even see it. I was just kind of watching and hoping.”

The three runs pushed Oakland’s eighth-inning total to a major-league-best 69 runs. The A’s have scored the winning run in the eighth inning or later in 10 of their past 23 wins.

“When you do it so many times, you have confidence doing it,” Melvin said. “And it was different guys today as well. ... At this point, it’s a true team effort. That’s powerful, when you have 25 guys contributing. Against guys who are really tough on us as well.”

Oakland began chipping away at Houston’s lead in the fifth. Chad Pinder and Canha singled and Jonathan Lucroy walked to load the bases for Nick Martini, whose double to center scored two. Stephen Piscotty, back in the lineup with a large welt on his left wrist after getting hit by a pitch Wednesday, singled to push across Lucroy. Martini’s two doubles Thursday were the first extra-base hits of his career.

Canha, playing center, had a terrific day in the field, making a rolling catch to rob Alex Bregman of a hit in the seventh and, on the next play, throwing out Jose Altuve trying to stretch a single into a double.

“Those are big swings,” Melvin said. “It’s like knocking in a run. ... His center-field play, I don’t even take him out anymore, he’s come so far last year and even this year.”

Trevor Cahill came off the disabled list to make the start for Oakland after missing a month with an Achilles tendon strain. He allowed just a walk in the first two innings, but in the third, his control abandoned him. He walked two and threw a wild pitch to move up the runners before Bregman brought in both with a double to left-center. “I felt good,” Cahill said. “I wasn’t as sharp as I wanted to be ... but it just felt good to be out there.”

Cahill threw 36 pitches in the inning, a lot for anyone but quite a few for someone with just one rehab start under his belt. When he gave up a two-out single to former A’s farmhand Max Stassi in the fourth, Cahill was pulled. Reliever Chris Hatcher then gave up a homer to left to No. 9 hitter Tony Kemp,

The A’s road trip continues — but they come home for it, with three games at San Francisco beginning Friday. Then, after the All-Star break, the teams meet again at the Coliseum.

“It’s strange but there’s enough of a break in there so it doesn’t feel like you’re playing six consecutive games against one team. That can be uncomfortable,” Melvin said. “It’s not a good dynamic to have to play one team that many times in a row. It’s a little bit of a funky feel to it, it’s kind of a long road trip, but at least we get to sleep in our own beds.”

Melvin, a former Giants catcher, invariably looks forward to the Bay Bridge Series.

“I kind of have to key down sometimes for that one, at least that’s what my players tell me,” he said with a laugh. “It’s just such a great crowd, it’s different than anything we do all year. Both fan bases in the same ballpark, there’s nothing like it.”

Susan Slusser is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sslusser@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @susanslusser