'This team fights': Blue Jays happy with road trip despite loss

HOUSTON -- The Blue Jays know they missed a chance to pull off a sweep of the defending AL champion Astros, but they are pleased with the series win and successful road trip nonetheless.

Despite a tough 8-7 loss in 10 innings on Sunday against the Astros at Minute Maid Park, the Blue Jays ended a difficult six-game road trip with a 4-2 record, feeling good about their team heading back to Toronto.

The Blue Jays won three straight one-run games on the road trip between Boston and Houston and nearly pulled out a fourth on Sunday.

“Overall, it’s a good road trip,” catcher Zack Collins said. “We played two good teams. Obviously, coming out 4-2 is pretty good. I thought we should have swept today, but at the same time, they’re a good team; we’re a good team.

“Things weren’t going our way in the first half of the game, but we came back and made it work and put a good game together. Obviously, it didn’t end the way we wanted to, but we [will] move on.”

The Blue Jays sandwiched a four-game winning streak on the trip between two one-run defeats. Toronto already had five wins in one-run games this season and is now 6-4 on the road.

“We knew it was going to be a tough schedule, and it’s still going to be a tough schedule, but we played great,” manager Charlie Montoyo said. “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.”

The Blue Jays just missed their first road sweep, but they did not go down without a fight. In all three of the games in Houston, Toronto rallied.

“We definitely don’t give up,” Collins said. “We have a couple of major injuries that have kind of distorted our lineup a little bit, with [Teoscar Hernández] and [Danny] Jansen, and a couple of guys who are looking to get going soon, and this team is not going to give up. No matter who we are playing against, we have shown it over the last week or so that we can come back at any point, and this team fights.”

Trailing 5-2 in the sixth, Collins tied it with a three-run homer to right, and Santiago Espinal gave Toronto its first lead with an RBI double in the seventh.

After the Astros tied it in the bottom of the seventh, Toronto regained the lead with an RBI double from Lourdes Gurriel Jr. in the top of the 10th, but it wasn’t enough as Jeremy Pe?a launched a walk-off two-run homer to center field off closer Jordan Romano in the bottom half of the frame.

Toronto’s offense, which has been slow coming out of the gates, woke up on Sunday, scoring the most runs since a 10-8 win over Texas on Opening Day. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Collins and Gurriel each had two hits on Sunday.

“I thought today was awesome to come back in this game,” Montoyo said. “We could have [said], ‘We had a good road trip and it’s fine. We aren’t going to win every game’. All of a sudden, we came back. We were there until the end and had our closer in the game.”

Blue Jays starter Yusei Kikuchi struggled on Sunday surrendering four runs -- two earned -- on three hits and five walks in just 3 2/3 innings.

“He’s walked too many guys so far, and today, he wasn’t as aggressive with his fastball as he’s been,” Montoyo said. “He’s a work in progress. I like his arm. I like how he competes and all that. It was a tough game, because he walked five guys.”

With series in Toronto coming up against Boston, Houston and the Yankees, Montoyo knows the schedule is not getting any easier, but he is happy with his team and how they’re playing.

“We’re playing good defense; we are pitching good,” Montoyo said. “Of course, we got some tough teams coming up, but we are going to play at home, so I feel good about it.”