© Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports
Blue Jays' Offensive Depth Carries Them to Victory
It took 72 games, but Blue Jays third baseman Santiago Espinal finally did it.
With Toronto leading 4-1, Cavan Biggio shuffled off second base. Tampa Bay Rays reliever Matt Wisler hung a 2-2 breaking pitch and Espinal clobbered it. The ball sailed an even 400 feet to left-center field and Espinal hollered at the Blue Jays dugout as he rounded first base — a long overdue celebration for the 26-year-old's first major league home run.
"I was so excited that I wasn't even paying attention where it landed," Espinal said. "I was just excited man, seeing my teammates pumped up and it was just an awesome moment."
"This one, I'm going to remember forever. This is a special moment for me, my teammates, thank God we got the W."
The Sahlen Field faithful did "The Wave" as Espinal's two-run bomb put an exclamation mark on a 6-3 Blue Jays victory.
Before Espinal's home run, it was a 117.3-mile-per-hour double off the bat of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. that got the Blue Jays cooking in the sixth. Rays starter Shane McClanahan then wanted nothing to do with George Springer — who homered once off McClanahan already — and pitched around him for a walk.
This, of course, was all a product of exactly what manager Charlie Montoyo had preached a day earlier when asked about why he moved Springer into the cleanup role. Sure, teams can walk Springer, but then they'll have to pitch to All-Star slugger Teoscar Hernández.
On Saturday, Hernández squeaked out an infield single to load the bases, then all kinds of chaos ensued. Some sloppy Tampa Bay defense mixed with the Espinal home run led to the Blue Jays hanging a five-spot in the sixth inning.
A deep batting order — one of Toronto's most obvious strengths — made Saturday's offensive outpouring possible and Springer hitting in the No. 4 really stretched out the lineup.
The 31-year-old sports a rather pedestrian .245 batting average, but thanks to some solid on-base skills and massive power numbers, his 2021 OPS sits at .955 through 14 games. After another early home run — his fifth of the season — it's clear Springer deserves the most coveted spot in the batting order.
On the pitching side, Blue Jays starter Ross Stripling was sharp once more, going 5 2/3 innings, allowing only one earned run on two hits. Three walks and a wall-scraping home run by Manuel Margot represented his only real missteps.
A lot has been made of Stripling's mid-season turnaround — which included mechanical adjustments like dropping his glove — and with each start where his ERA drops (now at a season-low 4.06), his confidence grows.
"[I'm] definitely more confident, more convicted every time out and feel like I'm building on it every time I'm in. It's only been eight or nine outings, whatever it's been, so you know, hopefully keep the momentum going and give the team a chance to win every time I go out there," Stripling said.
Toronto is quietly closing the gap on Tampa Bay — moving within three games of the second American League wild-card spot. After outscoring the Rays 17-4 through two games, the Blue Jays will look to grab a series sweep on Sunday.
