TORONTO -- When Victor Martinez homers, it usually has been a solo shot this season.

His 17th homer of the season in the eighth inning Saturday afternoon came with no one on base, like 10 of his previous 16 homers, but it was all the Detroit Tigers needed.

The shot to right center on a 1-2 fastball from Jason Grilli (3-3) ended a tie and gave the Tigers a 3-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.

It also stopped the Blue Jays' winning streak at seven games and gave the Tigers (46-42) a chance to gain a split in the four-game series on Sunday.

"It just shows you how much we missed (Martinez) last year when he had the bad knee," Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said.

"We played a pretty good game today," Martinez said. "We're not where we want to be at this point but there's a lot of season left."

The Blue Jays (50-40) had just tied the game in the bottom of the seventh with the sixth home run of the season by Devon Travis on a 2-2 slider from Bruce Rondon (3-1), who finished the inning and picked up the win.

Francisco Rodriguez pitched a perfect ninth to earn his 24th save of the season.

Toronto starter Aaron Sanchez allowed five hits, two walks, a hit batter and two runs in five innings.

The right-hander struck out four and found out after the game that he had been added to the American League team for the All-Star Game Tuesday at Petco Park in San Diego.

"That's a huge accomplishment," Sanchez said. "There are so many guys deserving of this award and to be mentioned with those people it's a huge honor for me. To be honest with you I kind of gave up after the first couple of times. Obviously Marco (Estrada, the Toronto right-hander who was picked for the game) got hurt and I thought I had a chance and after that I just didn't want to think about it. But definitely it's a pleasant surprise for myself. Pretty unreal, I think the only other time I made an all-star team was at Petco (in high school)."

Sanchez, who has not lost since April 22, goes into the break 9-1 with a 2.97 ERA.

"We're all happy and excited for him," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "He's had a tremendous first half. I think he's just scratching the surface, I really do. Well deserved."

Detroit left-hander Matt Boyd allowed four hits, two walks and one run while striking out six in five innings.

"He didn't have his best slider but he mixed his curveball and changeup very well," Ausmus said. "The slow curveball helped him out a lot. He did an excellent job. He did exactly what we needed him to do."

The Tigers scored a run in the second.

Martinez led off with a walk, Nick Castellanos extended his hitting streak to six games with a single and Justin Upton singled to load the bases.

Steven Moya lined out to left fielder Ezequiel Carrera, who threw Martinez out at the plate.

"Quite frankly, it took a perfect throw to get him," Ausmus said. "I think he was using a little bit of stealth there."

After a passed ball, Jarrod Saltalamacchia walked to load the bases. Sanchez hit Andrew Romine with a 1-2 pitch to score a run.

"I had Romine right where I wanted him and a fastball just got away from me," Sanchez said.

"It was a battle for him, he was facing one of the best lineups in baseball," Gibbons said. "It's never easy. I thought he was a little bit off today but you know what he held them in check."

The Tigers took a 2-0 lead in the fourth when Upton doubled and scored on Saltalamacchia's single.

The Blue Jays scored a run in the fifth on an infield single by Junior Lake, who took second on a throwing error by Castellanos and came home on a triple by Carrera.

Joe Biagini replaced Sanchez for the sixth and pitched two scoreless innings.

Alex Wilson took over from Boyd and pitched a perfect bottom of the sixth and Rondon took over in the bottom of the seventh and gave up the one-out homer to Travis to tie the game.

Martinez put Detroit back into the lead in the eighth.

Justin Wilson pitched around a single in the bottom of the eighth.

Drew Storen set down the Tigers in order in the top of the ninth.

NOTES: Toronto LHP J.A. Happ is 6-0 with a 2.95 ERA in his last six starts after the win on Friday. He is the first Blue Jays pitcher to go 6-0 over a six-start span since RHP Roy Halladay, who had a 2.31 ERA when he accomplished it in 2003. Happ is the fourth Blue Jays pitcher to win 12 or more games before the All-Star break. Halladay did it three times (2003, 2005 and 2006), LHP David Wells (2000) and RHP Roger Clemens (1997). ... The Tigers optioned RHP Bobby Parnell to Toledo after the game Friday to make room for LHP Matt Boyd, who was recalled from the Triple-A team to start Saturday. ... Toronto RHP R.A. Dickey (5-9, 6.52 ERA) will face Detroit RHP Anibal Sanchez (6-9, 3.94) in the finale of the four-game series on Sunday.