Joey Loperfido has delivered in back to back games against the Blue Jays, the team that traded him away this past offseason. A game-winning homer Tuesday and a clutch triple Wednesday. A great story of a player getting the best of his old club.
On Tuesday he pinch hit for Jake Meyers and drove in a run on a bases-loaded catcher's interference call. He then followed that up with a game-winning three-run homer in the 11th off former teammate Braydon Fisher. His first home run of the season in his 32nd game back in the majors, and it was a big one, per ESPN.
After coming off a hit win on Tuesday he was back at it again on Wednesday. He came up again in a tied game in the eighth inning. He hit a triple off the center field wall against Jeff Hoffman. He scored the go-ahead run on Peña's infield single right after, per ESPN.
Loperfido was traded to Toronto and then dealt back to Houston over the winter. He has battled inconsistency, batting just .154 since returning to the active roster in early June. But he seems to be on a bit of a hot streak right now. Three of his four hits in that stretch have gone for extra bases, along with six walks.
Loperfido was originally drafted by Houston in the seventh round of the 2021 draft and made his MLB debut with the Astros in 2024. He was traded to Toronto that same July as part of a deal that brought pitcher Yusei Kikuchi to Houston. He spent the 2025 season with the Blue Jays, batting .333 in 41 games, before Houston traded for him again this past February in a swap that sent Jesús Sánchez to Toronto, per ESPN.
This kind of production from the bottom of the order has been a big reason the Astros are riding a four series win streak. A reminder that even a player without a long track record in the league can come up huge in big moments. This is the kind of spark this lineup has needed in some of these tight games and Joey Loperfido provided that when it matter most.
Two unforgettable games against his old team. Loperfido is making the most of his opportunity back in Houston. A storyline worth watching as the Astros push toward the All-Star break.
