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Loperfido's 11th-Inning Homer Lifts Astros Past Blue Jays 9-7

Houston Astros' Joey Loperfido hit a tiebreaking three-run home run in the bottom of the 11th inning to lead the Astros to a 9-7 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre on Tuesday.

Sasha Yoder

June 24, 20262 min read

MLBFinal
Houston Astros9
Toronto Blue Jays7

June 23, 2026

Decisive Finish

The Houston Astros secured a 9-7 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays thanks to a pivotal late-inning performance by Joey Loperfido. In the bottom of the 11th inning, Loperfido launched a 379-foot home run to right field, driving in two additional runs to break a tie and provide the winning margin.

The blast capped a high-scoring affair at Rogers Centre, where the Astros overcame a deficit to claim the win.

Scoring Breakdown

Houston took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning when Jose Altuve scored on a single to center field by Jose Paredes. The Astros extended their advantage in the fourth inning with a flurry of power. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. homered to left field (391 feet), followed by home runs from Alejandro Kirk to center (436 feet) and Yainer Diaz to right (421 feet).

The Blue Jays responded in the same frame with a two-run shot to left field by Santiago Urías (363 feet), which also scored Bo Bichette, cutting the deficit to 4-2.

Toronto tied the game in the seventh inning when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a 395-foot homer to right field, bringing in Teoscar Hernandez. The Blue Jays took their first lead in the eighth inning when Guerrero Jr. singled to left field, scoring Springer and Guerrero Jr. (note: scoring sequence lists Springer and Guerrero Jr. scoring, but fact check: Okamoto singled, Springer and Guerrero Jr. scored.

Wait, the fact says Okamoto singled, Springer scored and Guerrero Jr. scored. So Okamoto is the hitter). Okamoto's single drove in two runs to make it 6-4 Toronto.

Houston answered in the ninth with a run on catcher's interference against Joey Loperfido, allowing Altuve to score. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. then hit a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Alvarez to tie the game at 6-6.

Pitching and Records

The game remained deadlocked until Loperfido's 11th-inning heroics. The Astros' bullpen held the Blue Jays scoreless in the extra frames. Logan VanWey earned the win for Houston, pitching two innings with no earned runs.

Josh Hader closed the game with a perfect inning. For Toronto, Tyler Rogers took the loss after allowing one earned run in one inning, and Braydon Fisher was charged with two earned runs in two innings of work.

The victory improved the Houston Astros' record to 38-43. The Toronto Blue Jays fell to 39-40. The game drew an attendance of 38,633 fans to Rogers Centre.

Sources

https://www.espn.com/mlb/game/_/gameId/401815868

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Sasha Yoder

Sasha Yoder covers Richardson high school and area college sports.

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