DETROIT - Dallas Keuchel won this matchup of old college roommates — then admitted he hadnt paid much attention to his friend-turned-adversary on the mound. Mateus Uribe Colombia Jersey . Keuchel outpitched Drew Smyly, and the Houston Astros beat Detroit 6-2 on Thursday to snap the Tigers eight-game winning streak. Keuchel and Smyly both pitched for the Arkansas team that reached the College World Series in 2009, but on this day, Keuchel had more important concerns than watching his fellow left-hander throw. "I honestly didnt see a single pitch from him," Keuchel said. "I was in the tunnel. It was kind of hot today for Detroit right now, and I was just trying to stay cool as much as possible." Keuchel (3-2) allowed two runs and six hits in 7 2-3 innings, and Houston ended its five-game losing streak. The Astros broke through with three runs in the fifth off Smyly (2-2) to take the lead. Houstons George Springer, a first-round draft pick in 2011, hit his first major league homer. Carlos Corporan and Matt Dominguez also went deep for the Astros. Victor Martinez homered for the Tigers. Smyly allowed only one hit — an infield single — through the first four innings, but his outing took a turn for the worse in the fifth when Springer lined a one-out solo homer over the wall in right. "Its obviously good to hit something hard and to have a great result like that," said Springer, who planned to give the home run ball to his father. "I didnt try to do too much — was able to stay on it and hit it hard, and for me thats a great sign." Jose Altuve put the Astros ahead 3-2 with a two-run double later that inning. Smyly allowed three runs and five hits in 5 1-3 innings. He struck out two and walked three. Corporan homered off reliever Evan Reed in the seventh to make it 4-2. Keuchel struck out seven without a walk, navigating a tough Detroit lineup without too much difficulty. "I wont be talking to him for a while," Smyly joked. "I thought hed do OK, but hes a lefty and with our offence, I thought wed get to him. Hes a very smart pitcher and hes a bulldog, and we couldnt do anything with him. Thats as good as Ive seen him, and you have to tip your hat." Keuchels final big test came in the seventh, when Detroit put men on first and third with two out. Keuchel struck out pinch-hitter Torii Hunter to end the inning. The temperature at game time was 77 degrees, and Keuchel said his decision to ignore Smylys pitching was nothing personal. "On the more humid days, Ill try to go in and keep cool in between innings, so I dont usually watch the other pitcher," he said. "In this case, it was my college roommate, so Im sure hell be mad I didnt see a few pitches." Miguel Cabrera came to the plate in the eighth after Ian Kinslers single chased Keuchel, but the best the Detroit slugger could do against reliever Anthony Bass was a soft grounder to second. Dominguez hit a two-run homer in the ninth. The Tigers opened the scoring in the second on an RBI double by Nick Castellanos. Springer, who came close to preventing a homer by Cabrera the previous night, nearly caught this drive too, but it caromed off the wall in right field. Martinez hit his seventh homer of the year in the fourth. He finished the day with three hits, extending his hitting streak to 11. NOTES: Houston OF L.J. Hoes, who entered the game in an 0-for-20 slump, had three singles and scored a run. ... The Astros play at Baltimore on Friday night, with RHP Scott Feldman (2-1) scheduled to return after missing time with right biceps tendinitis. Baltimore starts LHP Wei-Yin Chen (3-2). ... Detroit hosts Minnesota, with RHP Justin Verlander (4-1) on the mound against Twins RHP Phil Hughes (3-1). Radamel Falcao Jersey . More importantly, he is trying to show his young teammates the Colorado are still post-season contenders. He hopes winning a series at home was a fresh start. Luis Muriel Jersey . -- Billy Andrade hasnt played much competitive golf over the past four years. http://www.nationalcolombiafootball.com/yerry-mina-colombia-jersey/ . Raonic, the No. 8 seed from Thornhill, Ont., had 18 aces in the match. He needed one hour 39 minutes to complete the victory.TORONTO – Randy Carlyle felt helpless. He tried scores of video, tried highlight reels, tried countless meetings, tried whatever he could think up to alter the manner in which his seemingly unheard message was presented, anything to jolt a win from his team during the organizations longest losing streak (regulation) in more than 25 years. But it didnt work for more than two weeks, challenged all season for that matter. A narrow victory over Calgary Tuesday night wasnt exactly the Mona Lisa he imagined, but it did breathe the slightest gasp of life into the Maple Leafs sputtering playoff hopes. With just five games to go and ground to gain on Detroit and Columbus – both with games in hand – those hopes remain faint, but could become a little more real with a victory over Boston on Thursday night – however unlikely given both teams recent performance. The most crushing of foes for the Leafs in recent years – see: Game 7 – the Bruins have surged to the top of the NHL after a month of March that featured 15 wins in 17 games and just a single loss in regulation. "When you play teams of that caliber, you have to be on the top of your game," Carlyle said, sounding almost envious of the template created by GM Peter Chiarielli and head coach Claude Julien. "Theres a hockey club thats playing very well. If theres one thing that you can look to Boston is they dont really change. They do what they do and they do it as good as anybody in the league. Theyre a top team. They dont change their template." His team hasnt approached anything close to that level of consistency all year, an unpredictable Jekyll and Hyde bunch from October on. Four entirely different stretches have effectively defined whats been a rollercoaster season in Toronto. The Leafs started with 10 wins in their first 14 games, spiraled with 21 losses in the next 32, rebounded with victories in 15 of 22 before spinning out with eight straight losses in regulation ahead oof Tuesdays 3-2 win over the Flames. Frank Fabra Colombia Jersey. Rarely did they function as imagined – major defensive deficiencies masked – winning games on the shoulders of a scorching top line and No. 1 goaltender, Jonathan Bernier, who thrived under a heavy workload. Of late, those two prime elements have cooled (or been hurt) and the club has otherwise found all kinds of ways to lose, fatalistic errors and bouts of "freeze mode" as Carlyle described it, often defining close defeats. "Even [Tuesday] night we stopped for awhile, but we got through it," he said of a game that saw Calgary rally late in the proceedings. "Those are the tough things and those are the things that make you shake your head and bang your head against the wall why are we doing that?" Carlyle has been shaking his head all season, unable to jive the current group with his imagined template. As they do now, the Leafs looked all but dead in early January, only to reel off 11 wins in 14 games before the Olympic break, propped up mostly by Phil Kessels dominance and Berniers nightly theatrics. Similar lightning in a bottle is now required – along with a dip from fellow wild card contenders – only now time is not on their side. And even five straight wins alone might not be enough to recover from another late season collapse. Yet another biggest game of the year stands front and centre, this against a Boston hockey club that lost in regulation Wednesday for the first time in more than a month, a 2-1 third period lead erased by the pesky Red Wings. Detroit pulled four points in front of Toronto (with a game still in hand) with the victory, leaving Columbus as the most likely target. "I think we all elevate our game against them," Jake Gardiner said of the Bruins, whom the Leafs defeated on Jan. 14. "It seems like were always prepared to play them." And theyll have to be. Their near-dead playoff fates are on the line. ' ' '