HOUSTON — For a team currently in a playoff spot, the A’s have had an awful lot of young players come up and make an impact over the past few weeks. And on Wednesday, the organization’s prize prospect made his debut.

In a posteseason race and at the division leaders’ ballpark, left-hander Jesús Luzardo entered in the sixth inning and retired nine of the 10 men he faced, including the top six batters in Houston’s lineup in order, to help the A’s beat the Astros 5-3 at Minute Maid Park. With the win, Oakland remained in the second wild-card spot.

“It was a tough spot to put him in,” Melvin said. “It didn’t look like he was afraid of the moment. It was pretty cool.”

Catcher Sean Murphy said he went to talk to Luzardo when he first got to the mound, “and it was business as usual. Nothing new.”

Luzardo, 21, said he was nervous initially, but that went away as his first inning of work went along. “Once I went back out for the second, I kind of got in a groove and all of my pitches were working,” he said.

The lone blemish was a solo homer by Houston catcher Martin Maldonado; Luzardo retired the final seven batters he faced and struck out two, both looking. He got five groundouts, a pop-up and one flyout. He threw 36 pitches, including 22 strikes, and his two-seam fastball was particularly effective. He even threw one little quick pitch to Miles Straw for a ball.

“Very good,” texted one NL scout in attendance. “Power with feel, nice athlete, delivery, arm action. If he remains healthy, he’s a future No. 1 starter.”

“Really good,” Houston’s José Altuve said. “Good fastball with sudden movement. I went to look for a fastball and he threw me a good changeup. Good curveball. I think he's going to have a good career, and I wish him the best.”

Luzardo became the first Peruvian-born player in big-league history, though he grew up in Venezuela and attended Marjory Douglas Stoneman High School in Parkland, Fla. Luzardo said he had about 30 friends and family members in the stands. “I kind of tried not to pay attention, but I know they were going crazy,” he said.

Murphy hit his fourth homer in four starts and his third in two games, a solo shot in the sixth that tied the score 2-2. The A’s are unbeaten in Murphy’s starts.

“We feel like what is going to be a bright future has come along pretty quickly here,” Melvin said.

Murphy, who has caught Luzardo extensively, was impressed with his first outing. “It was awesome,” Murphy said. “He always competes, but you never know how a guy is going to react in a situation like that. You couldn’t ask for anything better.”

Oakland didn’t take the lead until just before Luzardo came in the game. After Marcus Semien singled and Matt Chapman was hit by a pitch in the sixth, Matt Olson plunked a two-run double down the right-field line, giving the A’s their first lead, and Khris Davis added an RBI single. Semien also hit a solo homer in the fourth, his career-high 28th.

Brett Anderson, who gave up two runs and earned his career-best 12th win, knew he was going to have a shorter outing with Luzardo likely to follow him. “I’m just the new guy’s caddie,” Anderson said with a laugh. “Usually as a starter, you pace yourself ... but I went out there and tried to throw good stuff early ... as often as I could. The first three innings, that was probably the best stuff I’ve had all year.”

The combo was so good, there’s certainly the potential the A’s could “piggyback” Luzardo with Anderson or other starters to help limit workload. Melvin said the team will put a plan together for Luzardo on Thursday.

“We’d still like to get his pitch count up — he is a starter by trade — but all our starters are pitching pretty well right now,” Melvin said, “so maybe next time out, same kind of fashion.”

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