HOUSTON -- Barring catastrophic injury or an unforeseen turn of events, the Houston Astros' lineup depth will be a topic of conversation for most of this season, with performances like the one delivered Friday night illustrating precisely why.

With right-hander Charlie Morton producing a career-best strikeout effort, Yuli Gurriel and Evan Gattis paced an offensive outburst down in the batting order in the Astros' 9-4 victory over the Oakland Athletics at Minute Maid Park.

Gurriel and Gattis both finished 3-for-4 with two RBIs while batting sixth and seventh, respectively. Gurriel, who clubbed his second homer of the season in the seventh inning, also scored twice and finished a triple shy of the cycle. Gattis had hits in his first three plate appearances before a flyout in the seventh.

George Springer, Josh Reddick and Carlos Correa added two hits apiece as Houston finished 7-for-14 with runners in scoring position. After injuries slowed them on their recent road trip, the Astros (15-8) embraced superior health.

"Those (Gurriel and Gattis) are strong, bottom-of-the-order hitters, and when we have our full team intact we've got a long lineup and we just keep coming at you," Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. "I don't want to fall in the habit of falling behind the way that we have in the first month, but this month will convince our players that we are never out of it. We're just going to keep pecking away at them, and we did."

After falling into a 3-0 hole in the top of the first inning, the Astros (15-8) rallied with three runs off Athletics right-hander Jharel Cotton (2-3) in the bottom half.

Gurriel and Gattis delivered run-scoring hits in succession, with Gurriel cutting the deficit to one run with his RBI single up the middle before Gattis' ground-rule double into the right-field stands knotted the score at 3.

"Everyone wants to go out there and shut it down in the first inning after we got on the board, and unfortunately I didn't do that," said Cotton, who allowed six runs (three earned), 10 hits and one walk with four strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings. "I let them creep in, and I took it on for the rest of the game."

Trailing 4-3 in the fourth, Springer legged out a two-out infield single to score Gattis. Gattis struck again an inning later, chasing Cotton with an RBI single to left.

"You saw a good taste of what this lineup can do tonight," said Reddick, who reached base four times. "That's what this lineup is capable of. We've just got to keep grinding and keeping chipping away and we'll come out on top."

Morton (2-2) worked a season-high seven innings and had a career-high 12 strikeouts. He allowed five hits and four runs, all coming via two home runs from Athletics left fielder Khris Davis, who posted his 13th career multi-homer game.

The problems with Davis were glaring. Morton surrendered two one-out baserunners in the first inning before Davis drove a 1-0 pitch 423 feet into the Astros bullpen in right-center field for a 3-0 lead.

Davis' solo shot to right in the third, his ninth homer, carried 395 feet and seemed to negate the Astros' rally.

Excluding his early issues with Davis, Morton pitched effectively. After Davis' second opposite-field homer gave the Athletics a 4-3 lead, Morton kept building momentum and retired 13 of the final 15 batters he faced, nine via strikeouts.

"He was good," Oakland manager Bob Melvin said of Morton. "He has a good sinker, good cutter, got a hard breaking ball. He throws 95-96 miles an hour. He was pretty good."

The Athletics (10-13) have dropped five consecutive games.

NOTES: Athletics RHP Sonny Gray allowed two hits in six shutout innings for Triple-A Nashville on Thursday night in what was his second rehab start. Gray was placed on the disabled list on March 30 with a strained right lat. He could return to the Oakland rotation as early as next week depending in part on what the club does with LHP Sean Manaea, who departed his start on April 26 against the Los Angeles Angels with shoulder tightness. ... Astros CF Jake Marisnick appears poised to return from the 7-day concussion disabled list on Monday. Marisnick was concussed running into an outfield wall at Tampa Bay on April 23. ... Astros CF George Springer and 2B Jose Altuve returned to the starting lineup after brief injury hiatuses. Altuve injured his left shoulder during an outfield collision with Teoscar Hernandez on April 25. Springer dealt with a hamstring injury this week.