TORONTO (AP) 鈥� Rookies Joey Loperfido and Addison Barger hit back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the ninth inning and the Toronto Blue Jays rallied to beat the Los Angeles Angels 5-4 on Friday night.
Toronto trailed 4-3 heading into the ninth against Los Angeles right-hander Roansy Contreras (2-3), but with his fourth home run of the year before .
Barger鈥檚 439-foot drive was the longest homer of his brief career.
鈥淚t鈥檚 surreal, an unbelievable moment,鈥� Barger said.
Loperfido homered in Toronto for the first time since joining the Blue Jays in a trade with Houston last month.
鈥淎 really fun way to end the game,鈥� Loperfido said. 鈥淔or Barger to come through like that with a pretty unbelievable swing, too, it was fun.鈥�
It was the fourth time this season the Blue Jays had hit consecutive home runs, and the fourth time that they won in their final at-bat.
鈥淕reat swing from Joey, great at-bat from Barge,鈥� Blue Jays manager John Schneider said.
The blown save was Contreras鈥� second in four chances.
鈥淐ontreras has been good in that situation,鈥� Angels manager Ron Washington said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 good against lefties. Tonight it just didn鈥檛 work out.鈥�
Los Angeles has lost three straight and 11 of 14.
Toronto鈥檚 Chad Green (4-3) worked one inning for the win as the Blue Jays extended their winning streak over the Angels to five.
Los Angeles put a runner at third base with one out in the ninth but Green retired Logan O鈥橦oppe and struck out Niko Kavadas.
Angels right-hander Jack Kochanowicz allowed three runs and seven hits in six-plus innings, leaving after Loperfido doubled to begin the seventh. Kochanowicz walked none and struck out one.
鈥淗e was outstanding, he really was,鈥� Washington said. 鈥淗e deserved a better fate. He was getting ground ball after ground ball after ground ball.鈥�
Blue Jays right-hander Chris Bassitt allowed four runs and four hits in six innings. Bassitt walked two and struck out six.
鈥淭o his credit, you look up and he goes six,鈥� Schneider said. 鈥淲e really needed it with kind of a thin bullpen.鈥�
All four of the Angels鈥� runs came in the second inning. Leadoff batter Kevin Pillar was hit by a pitch and scored on Anthony Rendon鈥檚 double into the left field corner.
Kavadas walked and both runners advanced on a double steal before scoring on Jo Adell鈥檚 two-out double. Taylor Ward capped the inning with an RBI single.
Toronto cut the deficit in half in the fourth, when Alejandro Kirk鈥檚 groundout drove in a run and Ernie Clement added a two-out RBI single.
Kirk added an RBI single in the sixth to make it 4-3.
ROSTER MOVES
Los Angeles selected the contract of RHP Ryan Zeferjahn from Triple-A Salt Lake. RHP Mike Baumann was designated for assignment.
TRAINER鈥橲 ROOM
Angels OF Mickey Moniak was held out of the starting lineup but could return Saturday, Washington said. Moniak left Thursday鈥檚 game in the third inning after being hit on the left elbow by a pitch.
UP NEXT
Blue Jays RHP Bowden Francis (6-3, 4.38 ERA) takes a five-game unbeaten streak into Saturday鈥檚 scheduled start against Angels RHP Carson Fulmer (0-4, 4.24). Francis is 3-0 with a 1.88 ERA in his past five outings.
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AP MLB:
Ian Harrison, The Associated Press
