ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Houston Astros have made small but important gains during their first season in the American League. The winning streaks have been few and far between, yet now they appear to be on the upswing. Jason Castros leadoff homer triggered a three-run fourth against Tommy Hanson, and Dallas Keuchel pitched seven effective innings to lead the Astros to a 6-3 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night. Houston, coming off consecutive wins at Colorado, has won three in a row for the second time this season. The other time was April 8-10, when the Astros won twice at Seattle and followed up with a 5-0 win against Hanson at Angel Stadium. "Were just trying to ride this out," rookie centre fielder Brandon Barnes said. "Were going out there and playing hard-nosed baseball. Were playing good defence, our pitchings been outstanding and weve been getting big hits when we need them." Keuchel (2-2) allowed two runs and six hits, struck out four and walked none in the opener of a four-game series. The 25-year-old left-hander was making his fifth start after beginning the season in the bullpen. "The last couple of outings I felt pretty good, but there were just one or two pitches that swung in their favour," Keuchel said. "Tonight Id like to take back that second inning, but other than that, I felt really good." Paul Clemens came on in the eighth with the Astros leading 6-2 and gave up Erick Aybars first homer of the year before walking two batters. But then Travis Blackley retired Josh Hamilton on a popup with runners at the corners, and Jose Veras pitched a perfect ninth for his ninth save in 12 chances. Hanson (2-2) was charged with five runs -- four earned -- and eight hits over 6 1-3 innings in his first start since May 4. The right-hander was on the bereavement list for six days in April following the death of his stepbrother, then made two starts before going on the restricted list to continue dealing with his grief. It was Hansons second loss in two starts this season against the Astros, a team he was 4-0 with a 1.29 ERA against in six starts prior to this season with Atlanta. "It was good to get back out there and pitch again," Hanson said. "I was really amped up at the beginning of the game and I was excited to go out and pitch. My focus was there, but I felt like I could have done a better job tonight. Not exactly the performance I wouldve liked to put out there, but its good to get that one over with." The Angels took a 2-0 lead in the second with Chris Iannettas RBI single and a run-scoring groundout by newcomer Chris Nelson. But the Astros pulled ahead with three in the fourth, getting a leadoff home run by Castro on an 0-2 pitch and sacrifice flies from Chris Carter and Matt Dominguez. The Astros extended their margin to 6-2 with three runs in the seventh, two of which were unearned because of second baseman Howie Kendricks throwing error. Ronny Cedeno started the rally with a one-out triple off the centre-field fence that was poorly tracked by Mike Trout. Barnes drove in Cedeno with a single on Hansons 89th and final pitch. "We were just trying to attack his fastball. That was our plan early, and we finally got to him," Barnes said. "We made good adjustments through the game and just kept going." Jose Altuve greeted Dane De La Rosa with a single, then made a heads-up baserunning play by stopping short on his way to second on Castros grounder to a charging Kendrick -- who threw the ball past first baseman Brendan Harris as Barnes scored. "That was a tremendous job by Altuve," Astros manager Bo Porter said. "Thats something that you work on in spring training, and it comes up a lot of times. The mistake some baserunners make is that they think they can beat the second baseman. Then the guy tags you and throws to first base, and its a double play. But Altuve is a heads-up player with a great baseball I.Q. He did the absolute right thing there." Carlos Pena drove in the Astros sixth run with a two-out RBI single, his third hit of the game. NOTES: The Angels began wearing a commemorative patch on the front of their jerseys in honour of longtime team physician Lewis Yocum, who died last weekend of liver cancer at age 65. ... The Astros placed RHP Edgar Gonzalez on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to May 26, because of a shoulder strain. RHP Josh Fields was reinstated from the DL after missing 51 games because of a forearm strain. ... Castros homer to left-centre was his first RBI in 18 career at-bats against the Angels to that point. ... Of the 75 home runs Hanson has given up in the majors, Castros was only the fourth that came on an 0-2 count. As a result of Hansons return and that of staff ace Jered Weaver on Wednesday, Angels manager Mike Scioscia has decided to go with a six-man rotation at least through the end of this eight-game homestand. "I think right now is a good time for it," Scioscia said. "I think it helps the whole group if you can do it periodically. Its like throwing an off day in there." ... Harris started at 1B in place of Albert Pujols, who is still running poorly because of chronic foot and knee problems. Pujols got the night off. ... Astros SS Marwin Gonzalez did not play due to a right hamstring strain. Discount Asics Shoes . Just not the game. Kyle Palmieri scored two straight goals in the third period to rally the Anaheim Ducks past the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 on Tuesday night. Clearance Asics Shoes . Reigning world champion Eve Muirhead of Scotland opened with a 12-2 rout of Winnipegs Jennifer Jones in a battle of teams bound for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. http://www.wholesaleasics.com/ . -- Eastern Kentucky thrives off creating havoc for others. Cheap Asics Running Shoes China Wholesale .com) - The Pittsburgh Penguins placed forward James Neal on injured reserve Tuesday. Asics Shoes Clearance . 1 position. The Mustangs (6-0), who beat Queens 50-31 last weekend, earned 17 first-place votes and 287 points in voting by the Football Reporters of Canada. Western was last ranked first in the country in October 2011. The police in Rio de Janeiro say a Russian diplomat trying to repel an attempted robbery near the Olympic Park was involved in a shooting that left the assailant dead. The Russian embassy denied any of their employees were involved in the incident.The police say the diplomat wrestled with a gunman who was trying to rob him, causing the weapon to go off and killing the criminal. In a statement to The Associated Press, the Russians refuted the police report.There must be a misunderstanding, the embassy said in an email late Thursday.The Russian government also said its representatives are not armed. It pointed out that consulate officials are Russian citizens with Russian names, contrary to media reports that gave a Brazilian-sounding name.Authorities did not officially identify any of the people involved in the incident and only said the man who was attacked was a lawyer and a vice consul for Russia.The Daily Mail earlier reported that Marcos Cesar Feres Braga, a Brazilian lawyer who holds the vice-cconsul post at the Russian consulate, grabbed his motorbike-riding assailant and pulled him into his car before the assailants gun went off in a struggle over the weapon, killing him.dddddddddddd.The mugger struck at around midday Thursday as Braga was waiting for traffic to start moving again after the Olympic torch had passed by on Avenida das Americas in the Barra da Tijuca district of Rio, close to the Olympic Park and athletes village, the Daily Mail reported.The vice consul got into a physical confrontation with the aggressor, and during the fight, the assailants gun was fired several times, said the police statement. The homicide unit opened an investigation.The shooting comes amid heightened security during the Olympics, with 80,000 members of the Brazilian military bolstering police resources.Information from The Associated Press and AAP was used in this report. ' ' '