HOUSTON -- Dallas Keuchel remained unbeaten as the Houston Astros backed him with plenty of home run support Friday night in an 8-4 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.
Jose Altuve hit a three-run homer and George Springer and Luis Valbuena also connected as the Astros won their third in a row.
Keuchel (5-0) won his seventh straight decision overall. He gave up four runs and eight hits while striking out five in six innings.
Altuve and Springer homered off R.A. Dickey (1-5) as Houston built a 7-1 lead after four innings. After recently losing six of eight, the Astros have gotten back to the outpouring of offence that put them into the AL West lead.
Houston's eight runs marked its highest output since May 2 in an 11-4 win over Seattle.
The Astros scored three times in the second on a sacrifice fly by Chris Carter and RBI singles from Marwin Gonzalez and Jake Marisnick.
Altuve launched a home run to deep left-centre field in the fourth.
The Blue Jays closed to 7-4 in the sixth. Danny Valencia hit a two-run double and Chris Colabello followed with an RBI single.
Valbuena hit his ninth homer of the season, tagging Ryan Tepera in the seventh.
One start removed from a masterful eight-inning, one-run outing against the Yankees on May 4, Dickey gave up seven runs and 10 hits in five innings.
Josh Donaldson hit an infield single in the third that scored Colabello to give Toronto its first run. Donaldson extended his streak of reaching base safely against the Astros to 33 straight games, the longest streak against one team in the majors.
UP NEXT
Blue Jays: RHP Marco Estrada (1-2, 3.54 ERA) tries for his first winning streak since last June 25. After beginning the season with an 0.84 ERA in 10 2/3 innings of relief, he has struggled since joining the rotation.
Astros: RHP Scott Feldman (2-4, 5.23 ERA) tries to snap a two-loss skid, during which he has an 8.10 ERA so far in May. Feldman has five quality starts in seven outings in 2015 but has yet to turn them into consistent wins.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Blue Jays: INF Jose Reyes (cracked rib/oblique strain) could begin a rehab assignment next week after he took full batting practice on Friday, general manager Alex Anthopoulos said... OF Michael Saunders will likely be out for the next 4-6 weeks to rest a surgically repaired left knee. Saunders was placed on the disabled list on May 10 and has played in just nine games this year.
