HOUSTON — As River Ryan acclimates to life in the major leagues, the firsts continue for the UNC Pembroke alum and Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher.

Six days after his debut, Ryan made his second career start, and first on the road, in Sunday’s game against the Houston Astros. He earned his first MLB win in a 6-2 Dodgers victory.

“We were just sticking to the game plan that we worked with last game,” Ryan said in a postgame television interview. “All glory and praise to the Lord, man, He definitely had His hand on me today; I can’t thank Him enough for getting me through today, protecting me. But yeah, I just stuck to the game plan and it worked out today.”

Ryan (1-0) didn’t allow a hit until the fifth inning and pitched 5 2/3 innings, allowing one run on two hits with three walks and eight strikeouts.

“Man, that’s a pretty live arm,” Astros manager Joe Espada told the media postgame. “Pretty good stuff. Fastball, he’s got a sinker, slider — just a good mix. He used all those pitches, threw strikes.”

At the time Ryan left the game, he had not allowed an earned run in 11 innings across his two major-league starts, but he was responsible for a baserunner at second base which scored when the Astros’ Yainer Diaz homered of Dodgers reliever Alex Vesia.

Ryan walked the first two batters of the game, Astros stars Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman, but escaped the jam to pitch a scoreless first inning. That began a stretch in which he retired 11 out of 12 batters he faced, which spanned until he allowed a Jon Singleton double leading off the fifth for the Astros’ first hit of the game.

“The fastball certainly plays and has a lot of life,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I thought today the secondary, the curveball was really good versus right — but particularly versus left-handed hitters. … It was good to see him use that four-pitch mix effectively and, you know, we pushed him.”

After striking out two in his debut, Ryan induced more swings and misses in Sunday’s game, tying his most in a single game at any professional level.

“I’ve just got to focus on getting strike one,” he said. “As soon as I get strike one, I have a really good chance of getting guys out; if I fall behind I give them a chance to do damage. It’s been the same recipe since the beginning of time, but I was able to work out of some funk in the next couple of innings, but hit my stride and the rest is history.”

Ryan’s 5 2/3 innings pitched and 91 pitches thrown are both professional career highs at any level, as the Dodgers appear comfortable allowing him to go deeper into games as he pitches effectively.

Ryan has a 0.82 ERA through his first two starts, with 10 strikeouts in 11 innings.

The Dodgers have not officially announced their scheduled probable starters beyond Wednesday, but Ryan will likely pitch next during a weekend series at the Oakland Athletics, though the team’s plans could potentially be affected by any acquisitions ahead of Tuesday’s MLB trade deadline.