Astros 8, Blue Jays 4
HOUSTON -- George Springer, Jose Altuve and Luis Valbuena all smacked home runs while Will Harris turned in a clutch relief performance to lift the Houston Astros to a 8-4 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night at Minute Maid Park.
With their three homers the Astros (23-13) increased their American League-leading total to 52. Valbuena extended his club-leading total to nine home runs with his first-pitch blast to right field leading off the seventh inning. Springer also smacked a leadoff homer, in the third.
The right-handed Harris delivered in a critical, high-leverage situation, entering with two runners on and no outs in the seventh to face the heart of the Toronto order with the Astros leading 7-4. Harris preceded to strike out Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson before getting designated hitter Jose Bautista to pop up to shortstop Marwin Gonzalez.
Harris then followed with a strikeout of slugging first baseman Edwin Encarnacion, retiring in order three batters with a combined 22 homers.
The Blue Jays (17-20) fell to 1-4 on their current seven-game road trip and are now 2-10 all-time at Minute Maid Park. Right-hander R.A. Dickey took the loss after allowing seven runs on 10 hits in five innings.
Harris bailed out left-hander Dallas Keuchel (5-0). Right-handers Chad Qualls and Josh Fields followed Harris and retired six consecutive batters.
One night after a string of quality plate appearances yielded a four-run rally in the seventh inning, the Astros kick-started their offense in similar fashion against Dickey in the second inning.
Houston recorded five hits in that frame, with left fielder Preston Tucker recording the lone extra-base hit. Shortstop Marwin Gonzalez and center fielder Jake Marisnick slapped run-scoring singles, with Marisnick plating Gonzalez with his seeing-eye single into shallow left field. Gonzalez drove home designated hitter Evan Gattis, who singled to left leading off the frame.
The Astros also parlayed a sacrifice fly from scuffling first baseman Chris Carter into the second run of the frame. When the third inning rolled around, Houston turned to its more renowned manner of scoring.
Springer crushed a 3-2 knuckleball 429 feet to center field for his sixth home run to boost the Houston lead to 4-1. In the fourth inning it was Altuve who flexed his power, cranking his fifth home run, a three-run blast to left-center field, plating Carter and Marisnick for a 7-1 lead.
The offensive onslaught served Keuchel well, as he struggled to escape the third inning and surrendered three runs with two outs in the sixth.
Donaldson recorded an RBI single in the third and right fielder Chris Colabello, who scored in the third, drove home Bautista with an RBI single in the sixth one at-bat after left fielder Danny Valencia delivered a two-run double that cut the deficit to 7-3.
Two batters into the seventh and Keuchel was gone, having surrendered consecutive singles to open the inning.
NOTES: Astros RHP Lance McCullers Jr. will make his major-league debut on Monday against the Oakland Athletics, Houston manager A.J. Hinch announced. McCullers was promoted to Triple-A Fresno on Wednesday after going 3-1 with a 0.62 ERA in six games (four starts) for Double-A Corpus Christi. But when the Astros lost LHP Brett Oberholtzer to the 15-day disabled list with a blister on his left index finger, the decision was made to insert McCullers into the starting rotation. ... The Blue Jays acquired SS Ronald Torreyes from the Astros for cash considerations or a player to be named later. To make room on their 40-man roster, SS Jonathan Diaz cleared outright waivers. ... Astros CF Jake Marisnick moved back to the ninth spot in the batting order after hitting .143/.182/.190 in five games as the leadoff batter.