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 wild 9-7 win.
“Those are the wins that, at the end of the year, you go back and you think about them. That was one heck of a win,” manager Joe Espada said postgame.
With all the back and forth, a shortened start from Peter Lambert and two extra innings, Espada used five relievers and each member of his bench, including Loperfido, in the victory.
“I always ask those guys to stay ready on the bench because you never know,” Espada said. “There’s always a big moment in the game. You don’t have to start the game to be part of a big win.
“These young players did it. Those are moments as a team you want to have.”
The moment couldn’t have been much bigger for Loperfido, who is returning to Toronto for the first time since a Feb. 13 trade for Jesús Sánchez sent him back to his original Draft club in Houston.
“Just happy to come through for the guys in this clubhouse,” Loperfido said. “I think anybody that’s been traded, anytime they play against their former team, I’m sure they want to have good at-bats, and I feel the same way. So, just good timing.”
Loperfido’s blast came with two outs and two strikes against his old teammate Braydon Fisher.
“I know he’s got a good curveball. I’ve seen him throw it an awful lot when I’m playing defense behind him,” Loperfido said of his approach late in the at-bat. “So, I know that’s his pitch, and saw one on the first pitch of the at-bat. Saw that last one hang up and come in a little bit, so just a good swing.”
Not only was the homer Loperfido’s 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.
“This team, it’s not going to ever give up, and they’re going to fight ‘til the end,” Espada said of Houston’s resilience. “We’re going to make it tough. We could be down some runs, but we’re not going to stop fighting, and that’s who we are.”
Part of the late fight came from unsung hero Logan VanWey, whose efforts in the 10th and 11th innings earned him his first career win.
VanWey was recalled from Triple-A Sugar Land on Monday as Bryan Abreu was placed on the restricted list, and stranded the game-winning run at third in the 10th by retiring George Springer and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
The 27-year-old right-hander had pitched in Houston’s series-opening loss, allowing a Blue Jays insurance run in the ninth, but bounced back with the two innings when the Astros didn’t have much else behind him in the bullpen.
“That was awesome,” VanWey said of helping the Astros to Tuesday’s win. “I went over some stuff from yesterday. What I need to do to get ahead, to challenge the hitters better.”
VanWey was treated to a beer shower postgame for his first Major League “W” and got to keep the baseball from the final out, which he says he plans to give to his dad.
“This is your game,” Espada said of what he told VanWey before sending him back out for the 11th. “You’re gonna close this game out for us, and he did it. There’s no one left, and he was the last man standing and did one heck of a job.”