HOUSTON -- En route to four wins over his first seven starts, Astros left-hander Dallas Keuchel also recorded three no decisions where he allowed a grand total of three earned runs over 24 innings. But for a second consecutive outing, the Astros’ powerful offense had his back.

Right fielder George Springer, second baseman Jose Altuve and third baseman Luis Valbuena all smacked home runs while right-hander Will Harris turned in a clutch relief effort to lift the Houston Astros to an 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.

Keuchel (5-0) allowed four earned runs and failed to produce a quality start for a second consecutive outing. But like last week against the Los Angeles Angels, he got enough run support to mask his susceptibility.

"The offense is good, and I'm not," Keuchel said despite his 1.87 ERA. "That was pretty self-inflicted, and I'm just thankful for the bullpen helping me out and the offense doing their thing again."

Harris delivered in a critical, high-leverage situation, entering after Keuchel surrendered a pair of singles to open the seventh inning. With the Astros leading 7-4 and facing the heart of the Toronto order, Harris struck 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.

"That was an exceptional inning by Will," Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. "Coming into the fire with guys on base, there's probably not a tougher 2-3-4 in the league. A lot of damage can be done with those three guys."

The Blue Jays (17-20) fell to 1-4 on their current seven-game road trip and are now 2-10 at Minute Maid Park. Right-hander R.A. Dickey (1-5) took the loss after allowing seven earned runs on 10 hits in five innings.

Houston recorded five hits in the second inning, with left fielder Preston Tucker recording the lone extra-base hit. Gonzalez and center fielder Jake Marisnick notched RBIs, with Marisnick plating Gonzalez with his seeing-eye single into shallow left field. Gonzalez had singled to bring 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 426 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 muscle, cranking his fifth home run, a three-run blast to left-center field, plating Carter and Marisnick for a 7-1 lead.

"At times I felt like I had a really good knuckleball, and then all of a sudden it'd get pounced on or there'd be a ball that rolls through a hole and the next guy hits a home run and it just kind of snowballs," Dickey said.

"You just hope he goes out there and he's on and he gets the job done," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said of Dickey. "It's obvious that they hit him around pretty good. He basically throws one pitch, so when it's on he's real tough. When it's not quite as sharp or dances as much, he gets hit around a little bit."

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.