Houston Astros’ Joey Loperfido performs incredible juggling catch against the wall

Friday night’s matchup between the Houston Astros and Minnesota Twins saw 25 runs scored, but perhaps the most impressive play of the game came on the defensive end.

Twins second baseman Willi Castro was leading with a man on first base and no outs in the bottom of the eighth inning. He took an inside fastball from right-handed reliever Luis Contreras and sent it flying, hoping to cut into the Astros’ five-run lead.

The ball continued to drift toward the right-field fence, and it looked like it was going to bounce off the wall for a multi-base hit. Astros rookie Joey Loperfido followed it all the way, though, and he jumped to try to rob Castro.

Loperfido caught the ball, but it bounced out of his glove as it hit the padding of the wall. But instead of dropping it to the ground for a strike, Loperfido tried to catch it with his bare hands as he fell on his back.

The umpires ruled it a hit on the field, saying the ball hit the wall, but video review confirmed Loperfido made a clean catch.

Loperfido, 25, made his MLB debut on April 30 but was eventually sent back to Triple-A for much of May and June. He has been back in the major league lineup for two weeks, during which time he is hitting .188 with a .538 OPS.

Loperfido’s web gem showed Friday that he can make winning plays even when his bat goes cold, and that was certainly necessary for the Astros to emerge victorious at the end of the night.

Minnesota scored seven runs in the bottom of the ninth inning, making it 13-12, but Houston held on to win. An extra run in the eighth inning could have been the difference, so Loperfido’s contributions shouldn’t get lost in the shuffle.

Loperfido also hit a two-run double in the top of the sixth inning to give him the lead.

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