Houston Astros' Joey Loperfido Makes Incredible Juggling Catch at the Wall

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

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

The fly ball continued to drift towards the right field fence, and it looked like it would bounce off the wall for an extra-base hit. Astros rookie Joey Loperfido was tracking it the whole way, though, and he leapt up in an attempt to rob Castro.

Loperfido snagged the ball, but it bounced out of his glove when he ran into the padding of the wall. But instead of letting it drop to the ground for a hit, Loperfido made a bare-handed grab as he was falling onto his back.

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

The 25-year-old Loperfido made his MLB debut on April 30, but he was eventually sent back to Triple-A for a good chunk of May and June. He has been back on the big league roster for the past two weeks, in which time he is batting .188 with a .538 OPS.

Loperfido's web gem on Friday showed that he can make winning plays even when his bat falls cold, and it was certainly necessary in the Astros emerging victorious by the end of the night.

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

Loperfido also hit a go-ahead, two-RBI ground-rule double in the top of the sixth.

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