Welcome back! Loperfido mashes 3-run HR vs. former team to lift Astros in extras
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TORONTO -- With one swing of the bat, Joey Loperfido’s return to Rogers Centre with the Astros became a resounding success.
After Houston let a 4-0 lead slip away and needed a ninth-inning rally to force extras against the Blue Jays on Tuesday, Loperfido’s three-run shot in the 11th inning powered the Astros to a 9-7 win.
This week’s series marked Loperfido’s return to Toronto after a Feb. 13 trade for Jesús Sánchez sent him back to his original Draft club in Houston.
Not only was Loperfido’s homer his first of the season, but it also helped the Astros avoid dropping their first series since losing two straight to the Angels on June 9-10.
Houston got to extra innings thanks to a rally in the ninth, when the top of its order stepped up to erase a two-run deficit against Blue Jays reliever Tyler Rogers.
Jose Altuve, Yordan Alvarez and Isaac Paredes each singled to load the bases against Rogers with one out in the inning. The Astros then scratched Altuve and Alvarez across on a catcher’s interference call with Loperfido at the plate and a sacrifice fly from Cam Smith.
The two late rallies saved a game in which Houston got back-to-back-to-back homers in the fourth inning and 4 2/3 innings of two-run ball from surprise rotation contributor Peter Lambert.
“Absolutely,” Loperfido said Monday when asked if there was any motivation facing his former club. “Just like when we played the Astros here last year when I was on the Jays, I wanted to have some good at-bats and get some hits against them. It's always the same, so hopefully they give me some pitches to hit, and we'll see what happens.”