• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

O's top Blue Jays; magic number is 1

Sep 16, 2014 - 7:42 AM Baltimore, MD (SportsNetwork.com) - Ryan Flaherty hit a two-run homer, Adam Jones had three hits and the Baltimore Orioles beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-2, on Monday in the opener of a three-game series.

The AL East-leading Orioles' magic number to clinch their first division title since 1997 is now one with 12 games remaining. They can wrap it up on Tuesday.

"I've lost a lot of sleep since I've been here for different reasons," said Orioles manager Buck Showalter, "but tonight I look forward to losing that sleep."

Wei-Yin Chen (16-4) pitched 5 2/3 innings and remained unbeaten in his last seven starts. The left-hander gave up nine hits, two runs and a walk and struck out six.

The Orioles have won eight of their last nine, are 11-4 this month and lead the division by 12 1/2 games.

Jose Reyes had three hits and scored two runs for the Blue Jays, who have lost three of their last four. Marcus Stroman (10-6) took the loss after giving up five runs in six innings.

"Both teams had a lot of hits; we didn't get any with guys in scoring position, really, all night," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said.

Reyes, Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion hit consecutive singles off Chen to start the game, giving Toronto a 1-0 lead. Jones' RBI infield single highlighted a two-run bottom of the first inning that gave Baltimore the lead for good.

Jones singled in the third inning, went to second on a wild pitch and scored on Nelson Cruz's hit and Flaherty's seventh homer of the season in the fourth made it 5-1.

Reyes scored his second run on Danny Valencia's single after leading off the fifth with a hit, pulling the Blue Jays within 5-2.

Both benches were warned after Stroman threw a pitch behind Caleb Joseph in the sixth inning, apparently in retaliation for the Orioles catcher nicking Reyes' hand with his cleat on Reyes' slide.

Zach Britton picked up his 35th save for Baltimore, but not without a little bit of drama. He pitched around a single by Reyes and a walk to Bautista, getting a key force play at second base that was upheld upon review.

Game Notes

Chen is 4-0 in his last seven starts and the Orioles are 5-2 in those games ... Toronto stranded 11 men on base and was 3-for-16 with runners in scoring position.