HOUSTON — The A’s beat the Astros, 5-3, on Wednesday at Minute Maid Park ion what turned out to be a big night for Oakland’s top pitching prospect.

Jesús Luzardo, one of the top pitching prospects in all of baseball, made his big-league debut. He dealt three innings, striking out two and allowing just one hit and one run — Martin Maldonado’s homer. Luzardo, 21, was in line to be on the Opening Day roster until a shoulder strain cost him the first two months of the season. His return to the majors was delayed by a lat strain in June.

The A’s faced Houston on a bullpen day. Lucky for the A’s, Houston’s starter, Jose Urquidy, was on an innings limit. He made good use of the five innings he had, though, striking out 10 A’s and allowing one hit — a Marcus Semien home run, his 29th of the year.

The A’s could feast on the next guy up, Josh James. Sean Murphy hit his two-strike slider into the Crawford Boxes — his fourth career home run and third of the series — to tie the game up 2-2. Matt Olson laced a two-run double down the first base line to give the A’s a lead and Khris Davis RBI single extended the lead.

Brett Anderson gave up two runs, including a George Springer home run, in five innings, striking out four.