Espinal does it all as Blue Jays make it two straight over Tampa Bay

Espinal went deep downtown again Saturday, his first home run in the major leagues. It was a two-run shot that capped a five-run sixth as the Blue Jays tripped the Tampa Bay Rays, 6-3. And his teammates exploded. Hugs and high-fives all over the dugout.

Asked if he knew his last home run was in Buffalo, Espinal said, "To tell you the truth, I barely remember. But this one I'm going to remember forever. This is special moment for me, my teammates and thank God we got the W."

"It was actually one of the best moments of the year," said manager Charlie Montoyo. "Just because of the situation who we're playing and who did it. Everybody knows 'Espy.' This kid works every day. He's always ready. He could go a week, two weeks without playing and then you put him in there and he has a good game."

The Blue Jays snapped a 1-1 tie with the big inning, which also featured Cavan Biggio's two-run bloop single to left. They're 43-38 at the halfway mark of the season, including 10-3 in their last 13 games. And they've pulled within three games of the skidding Rays for the final wild-card slot. Tampa Bay has lost five straight overall and 10 in a row on the road.

Santia-going, going, GONE 👋 There's @santdr13's first @MLB homer 🐐 pic.twitter.com/R9RXMNjPCh

— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) July 3, 2021

Espinal's defense is what made Joe Panik expendable in last week's trade with Miami for badly needed reliever Adam Cimber. Espinal made a great play in the second, coming in on a chopper to nail speedy Randy Arozarena at first. Lately he's been making every play.

"I'm very confident," Espinal said. "To me, that's my priority right now and I think for the team, too. Just defense right now. Defense, defense and defense. Every day I just go out there and work on my defense."

The Jays have been dominant in the first two games against the defending American League champions. Alek Manoah and Ross Stripling have given them strong starts and Tampa Bay has batted just .156 while playing leaky defense. Toronto can get a sweep in the series and homestand finale Sunday at 1:07.

"Manoah last night was as dominant as have really seen anybody in a long time," Stripling said of the rookie who carried a no-hitter into the sixth and struck out 10. "Just mowed them down with seven clean (innings). To be able to come out today and win the series is awesome. We're obviously really happy with where we're at as a team right now going into the last road trip before the all-star break. So if we can finish strong I think that'd be awesome momentum heading into the second half."

Diamond dust

• The Blue Jays have put George Springer in the cleanup slot – between Vladimir Guerrero and Teoscar Hernandez – the last two days, and he's homered on the first pitch he's seen in both games. They are his first homers in consecutive games with the Jays, and Springer is batting .333 with three homers and a 1.189 OPS over the last eight games.

"I was waiting for him to start getting more at-bats and be comfortable and he's there now, so for us it was a good time to put him behind Vladdy," Montoyo said. "If you don't want to pitch to Vladdy, you're going to have to pitch to Springer. And if you don't want to pitch to Springer, now you got Teo behind. So it's more about protecting guys."

• Lefty reliever Ryan Borucki, out since May 14 with a forearm strain, threw from the mound pregame and is heading to Trenton to get some rehab outings with the Bisons.

"He looked good and he felt good so that that's all good news," said Montoyo.

• Robbie Ray (6-3) pitches for Toronto on Sunday against Tampa Bay's Ryan Yarbrough (4-3).