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Lourdes Gurriel Jr. goes .400 with two hits in his Major League Baseball debut to help the Toronto Blue Jays beat the New York Yankees 8-5 in the second game of their series. TSN Baseball Reporter Scott Mitchell provides his key takeaways from the game:

GAME 19, APRIL 20: JAYS AT YANKEES

RESULT: 8-5 win

RECORD: 13-6

STREAK: W1

1—Called up earlier in the day after slashing .347/.382/.510 in 12 games with Double-A New Hampshire, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. started at second base and collected his first major-league hit in his second at-bat, a single off Yankees righty Sonny Gray that plated two. He added another RBI single in the sixth. It remains to be seen how long the 24-year-old will be up, but he’s expected to see most of his time at the keystone when Devon Travis needs a day off and he can also play some shortstop. Gurriel comes with impressive bat-to-ball skills and should make a lot of contact against MLB pitching, similar to his brother Yuli’s approach in Houston.

2—When Teoscar Hernandez homers, they’re usually no-doubters. That was the case again in third inning when he hammered a 1-1 fastball from Gray to the biggest part of the ballpark in left-centre field for his second of the season. The two-run shot tied the game 2-2. With manager John Gibbons giving the struggling Randal Grichuk the night off, he opted to keep the strong-armed Hernandez in spacious left field and send Curtis Granderson over to right field. The most exciting part of Hernandez’s night? He walked twice, including taking a free pass with the bases juiced.

3—In addition to Gurriel being promoted and utility-man Gift Ngoepe and left-hander Tim Mayza being demoted to Triple-A Buffalo, DH Kendrys Morales was also reinstated from the DL and Gibbons inserted him into the No. 6 spot in the lineup. Morales hadn’t played since suffering a right hamstring strain in Baltimore on April 9, but he returned with his second multi-hit game of the season, including a looping RBI double down the left-field line.

4—Marco Estrada is scuffling right now with back-to-back subpar starts. His last one in Baltimore — six hits, three walks, and four earned runs over four innings — can partially be attributed to back spasms, but the 34-year-old said he felt healthy all week leading into his start Friday in the Bronx. The short porch in right field didn’t help him, but Estrada allowed three home runs and five earned runs over four innings, before turning things around with a 1-2-3 fifth inning that helped him get the win. The offence and four scoreless innings from the bullpen also clearly aided his cause in a big way. Estrada and his 5.32 ERA will get to avoid the cold weather next time out, taking the ball Thursday at home against the Boston Red Sox.

5—The Jays are finding ways to score runs and spreading out the production these days, but Justin Smoak is now 3-for-31 over his last eight games after going 1-for-5 and leaving six runners on base Friday. Smoak also hasn’t homered since April 1 (he hit both of his homers that day), a span of 15 games.​