HOUSTON - - On Wednesday, something seemed slightly different at Minute Maid Park.

Another type of energy and vibe had the ballpark buzzing with liveliness before the first pitch was thrown in front of the 40,545 people in attendance, which was the fourth home sellout of the season.

Whatever it was, the Houston Astros (9-10) players picked up on it immediately and used it to their advantage to defeat the Toronto Blue Jays (11-8) 8-1 to win their first season series at Minute Maid Park.

Starting pitcher Luis Garcia was focused early as he looked to redeem himself from his last start, where he surrendered five runs through five innings in a 6-2 loss to the Texas Rangers. He struck out six of the first seven batters he faced on his way to a career-high nine strikeouts for the game. Garcia also reached another milestone as he tossed a career-high seven scoreless innings securing his first win of the season.

“Garcia was excellent,” said Astros manager Dusty Baker. “He minimized his pitches, and him and Maldy (Martín Maldonado) worked well together. It was much needed for us. It was our first series win at home, and that was big.”

While Garcia’s accomplishments on the night were tremendous, the colossal moment for Houston took place in the top of the eighth inning after his departure. Baker decided to relieve Garcia with a two-run lead and bring in reliever Rafael Montero who immediately gave up a single to pinch-hitter Alejandro Kirk. He would give up an RBI double to Whit Merrifield to cut the Astros’ lead to 2-1 with no outs.

After walking the next two batters to load the bases, Baker pulled Montero from the game with the top of the Blue Jays batting order that consisted of George Springer, Bo Bichette, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. coming to the plate. He called for right-hander Bryan Abreu to come in and limit the damage caused by Montero.

“We were trying to stay away from him (Abreu) because he pitched 1 1/3 innings on yesterday,” Baker said during his postgame press conference.

Abreu settled in after Springer hit a scorching line drive toward third base, caught by Alex Bregman, who almost had a double play, but the runner beat him back to the base. He struck out Bichette on an 89.6 slider for the second out and needed nine pitches to get Guerrero Jr. to fly out to center field to conclude the inning and preserve the one-run lead.

“Just go in showing myself doing the best and show them why Dusty trusts me,” said Abreu about his game-saving inning.

One player who has watched the Astros get in and out of clutch situations from an outside view has been former Chicago White Sox first baseman José Abreu, who was signed in the offseason to replace Yuli Gurriel at first base. He has witnessed the playoff-type atmosphere at Minute Maid Park as an opponent but experiencing it from an Astros player perspective is different.

The excitement from the crowd and the adrenaline-charged performance from his teammate must have sent a charge into Abreu’s body as he went back into the dugout. His opportunity to show the home team fans why the organization had so much faith in signing him came when he stepped to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded and drove in two runs.

Houston would add four more insurance runs with Kyle Tucker’s RBI single and Jeremy Peña’s three-run blast to the Crawford Boxes left-field seats.

“Happy today, obviously,” said José Abreu, who had four RBI in the series. “I haven’t driven in a couple of runs in a couple of days, but I’m here trying to work every single day.”

The Astros will begin a tough six-game road trip against the Atlanta Braves and Tampa Bay Rays, two teams projected to make the postseason.