Astros 6, Blue Jays 4: Dallas Keuchel tossed seven strong innings while Robbie Grossman, Jonathan Villar and Jason Castro all went deep as Houston avoided a three-game sweep in Toronto.

Keuchel (1-1) stymied the Blue Jays for the better part of his 101-pitch outing, holding them to one run on five hits while striking out six. Grossman ignited the Astros’ offense with a two-run shot, Villar added a three-run blast and Castro contributed a solo homer for Houston, which ended a three-game slide and won for only the second time in eight contests.

Toronto ace R.A. Dickey (1-2) was unable to follow up on Saturday’s strong effort in which he worked 6 2/3 scoreless innings against the New York Yankees, giving up five runs and six hits over seven frames. Colby Rasmus went 3-for-4 and recorded his first homer of the season while pinch-hitter Adam Lind delivered a two-run double in the ninth inning.

Marc Krauss doubled to lead off the fifth before Grossman halted a 0-for-25 skid when he lifted a 3-0 knuckleball down the middle of the plate over the wall in right-center to break open a scoreless draw. Rasmus countered in the bottom half with his solo blast, crushing a first-pitch fastball from Keuchel off the facing of the second deck in right-center to cut the deficit in half.

Houston stretched its margin to 5-1 as Villar easily drove the first pitch he saw from Dickey in the seventh over the 400-foot sign in center and Castro tallied the Astros’ third homer in the eighth when he drove a 1-2 fastball from Esmil Rogers into the seats in right-center. Houston reliever Josh Fields was tagged for three runs while only recording two outs in the ninth, but Anthony Bass induced a groundball from Maicer Izturis to end it for his second career save.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Blue Jays LF Melky Cabrera finished with two doubles and has registered at least one hit in each of his team’s 10 games, but was denied a third hit in the seventh after he stumbled out of the batter’s box and Dominguez mishandled the grounder at third. Dominguez recovered just in time to throw out Cabrera at first and the call on the field was upheld following a challenge from Toronto manager John Gibbons. … Houston, which went 0-for-17 with runners in scoring position in the first two games of this series, posted a 2-for-4 mark in such situations on Thursday. … The Astros have scored at least six runs in three of their four victories and three or fewer runs in all six of their losses.