Mike Burrows needed a good start. Joey Loperfido delivered the decisive swing. Together, they gave the Houston Astros a 3-1 win Wednesday at Rogers Centre and a series victory over the Toronto Blue Jays—their fourth consecutive series win, the longest such streak of the season.
Houston left Toronto at 39-43, the closest it has been to the .500 mark since April 16, and moved into third place in the AL West with results elsewhere going their way.
With the game tied 1-1 in the eighth inning, Loperfido, traded from the Blue Jays back to Houston in the offseason, drove a splitter from Jeff Hoffman off the center-field wall and raced to third on the carom. Hoffman then threw wildly on a pickoff attempt, and Loperfido jogged home. It was the second straight game Loperfido had delivered the decisive blow against his former team, following his three-run homer in Tuesday’s 11-inning win.
Cam Smith preserved the lead in the bottom of the eighth with one of the plays of the series. With Luis Urías on first and one out, George Springer drove a ball toward the right-field wall. Smith ran it down and made a leaping catch in front of the fence. Urías, who had been running, was doubled off first on the relay—Smith to Jose Altuve to Jeremy Peña—to end the inning.
“It felt like when I went up in the air, everything slowed down,” Smith said.
Peña added an insurance run in the ninth when his infield single, helped along by a wide Ernie Clement throw, plated a run. Josh Hader, working for the third time in four days, closed it out with a scoreless ninth. Catcher Yainer Diaz won an ABS challenge to secure the final strike.
Burrows Bounces Back
Burrows had been moved to the bullpen last weekend amid questions about his rotation spot, with Cristian Javier nearing a return. Wednesday, he made a case to stay.
After yielding a solo home run to Nathan Lukes in the first inning, Burrows was dominant the rest of the way, allowing just one more base runner across his final five frames. Toronto made consistently weak contact against him all night. He walked one and struck out three across six innings of two-hit ball.
The quality start was his fourth in 15 starts. He carries a 5.48 ERA in 85⅓ innings.
Yesavage Tough, But Not Enough
Trey Yesavage was sharp in his second start of the season, allowing two hits and one run across 5⅔ innings while striking out five. The Astros drew five walks against him and worked him deep into counts before he departed.
Isaac Paredes did the damage in the first inning, lining a slider down the left-field line for a double that scored Peña all the way from first. Paredes drove in a run in all three games of the series and has been one of Houston’s hottest hitters of late after a slow start to the season.
Lineup Shuffle
Peña slotted into the third spot in the order for the first time in his career Wednesday, with Christian Walker out of the lineup for a day off amid struggles in June. Walker batted .190/.256/.342 with two home runs in his first 20 games this month after posting an .835 OPS through May. Espada said the club is encouraging Walker to take a more middle-of-the-field approach at the plate.
The Astros open a series Thursday in Detroit. Houston sends Tatsuya Imai against right-hander Troy Melton, who is 4-0 with a 2.81 ERA in five starts since returning from a season-opening elbow strain.
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