*Photo from the Houston Chronicle*
When the Houston Astros and Toronto Blue Jays duel, you know you're getting a slugfest. Michael Brantley hit a home run, Jeremy Peña hit the walk off home run, and the Astros defeated the Toronto Blue Jays with an 8-7 win in 10 innings on Sunday afternoon in Houston.
After having lost the first two games on Friday and Saturday, the Astros were looking to avoid a sweep at home over the weekend. It was all thanks to Peña, who was added to the opening day roster after the Astros lost Carlos Correa to the Minnesota Twins in free agency. He also hit his home run to break out of an 0-14 slump at the plate.
Peña said of his walk off home run to get out of the slump that "Something I learned and I picked up in this game is separating your at-bats, separating pitch by pitch, separating your defense from your hitting. So that at-bat was a clean slate. I was just going up and trying to help the team."
In the second inning, the Astros got on the board with an RBI single from Chas McCormick, scoring Aledmys Diaz to make it 1-0 Houston. The lead then became 2-0 when Peña scored after Alex Bregman drew a bases loaded walk. After the Blue Jays got on the board with a sac fly in the 4th, Brantley blasted a two run home run to make it 4-1 Astros.
The Blue Jays struck again in the 5th, with Lourdes Gurriel Jr hitting a solo home run to cut the deficit to 4-2. In the bottom of the 5th, Yuil Gurriel scored after Peña reached on an error to make it a 5-2 lead. In the 6th, Zack Collins tied the game up, making it 5-5 on a 3 run home run. In the 7th, both the Blue Jays and Astros added one run to make it 6-6. In the 10th, an RBI double from Gurriel put the Blue Jays ahead 7-6, before Peña's walkoff home run in the bottom of the 10th.
Astros manager Dusty Baker said of the walk off homer off Jordan Romano that "That guy's a tough pitcher. It's the first he had blown. Peña got one of the best. He also got his first walk-off hit, walk-off homer. That was great for our team, great for our city, great for the fans that stuck around to see that ballgame. Boy, that will hopefully start us on a winning streak here."
Blake Taylor got the win for the Astros after finishing the 10th inning, improving to 1-1 on the season. Luis Garcia got the start, getting a no decision after allowing 5 runs in 6 innings pitched. Parker Mushinski allowed one run, Bryan Abreu allowed one run, with scoreless outings from Ronel Blanco and Rafael Montero.
Romano got the loss and the blown save for the Blue Jays, falling to 0-1 this season. Yusei Kikuchi allowed 4 runs in 3 2/3 innings in his start, getting the no decision. Trevor Richards and David Phelps each allowed one run, with Julian Merryweather, Tim Mayza, Yimi Garcia, and Trent Thornton also pitching.
Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said that "We knew it was going to be a tough schedule, and it’s still going to be a tough schedule, but we played great. We were in every game. It’s awesome. We are playing good baseball, and you have to play good baseball when you’re playing good teams, and we did. Good road trip."
Up next, the Blue Jays welcome the Boston Red Sox to town on Monday night, with Jose Berrios to get the start. Framber Valdez starts for the Astros on a Monday matchup against the Texas Rangers.
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