Sandro marked his return from exile with a break as QPR came from a goal down to progress in the EFL Cup at Rochdale's expense.
Rangers, who had trailed to Matthew Lund's fifth minute opener, took time to get going and equalised when the Brazilian bundled home Tjaronn Chery's corner four minutes before the break.
And that same combination combined with 16 minutes left on the clock to book QPR's place in round three.
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink handed debuts to Ariel Borysiuk and youngster Osman Kakay, while Grant Hall returned in the centre of defence after serving his suspension as the Dutchman made eight changes from the side beaten by Preston on Saturday.
And they made a stuttering start as the defence failed to deal with a Donal McDermott corner and Lund pounced to open the scoring.
Rangers failed to find any semblance of rhythm in the first half with Sandro, in particular, looking off the pace.
They were dealt a blow when Nasser El Khayati was forced off with what appeared to be a lower back injury as Tjaronn Chery came on in his stead.
To an extent, that proved to be a blessing as the Dutchman injected some energy into Rs and it was from his corner that Sandro had his first.
Rochdale weren't deterred and were close to retaking the lead with some desperate QPR defending keeping the scores level.
And, with 16 minutes remaining, Chery's corner was met by Sandro to put Hoops in front. The Dutchman had a chance to seal the game 10 minutes later but it was denied by Logan.
