Toronto beats Orioles to clinch its first AL East title since 1993 (quotes added)

Toronto beats Orioles to clinch its first AL East title since 1993 (quotes added)
One team was recently eliminated from playoff contention. The other was a win away from its first division title in 22 years. It was not hard to tell which club was which this afternoon. Toronto hammered the Orioles 15-2 in Game 1 of a doubleheader to clinch the American League East championship for the sixth time and first time since 1993. Five of the Blue Jays runs were unearned thanks to Orioles errors from Manny Machado, Jason Garcia, Chris Davis and Junior Lake. According to STATS, the...
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O's game blog: Miguel Gonzalez on mound in opener of doubleheader

O's game blog: Miguel Gonzalez on mound in opener of doubleheader
In the opening game of today's doubleheader, right-hander Miguel Gonzalez returns to the Orioles active roster, coming off the disabled list for the second time to make the start against Toronto. The Blue Jays have won five in a row, 12 of their last 17 games, and are 91-65 overall. They are closing in on the American League East championship with a magic number of one to eliminate the Yankees. Gonzalez is 9-11 with an ERA of 4.85 in 25 starts. His last start was Aug. 30 when he gave up four...
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Notes on the offense and quotes from Matt Wieters and Darren O'Day

Notes on the offense and quotes from Matt Wieters and Darren O'Day
The Orioles still have six games to play in the 2015 season. Hopefully the weather cooperates as the Orioles and Blue Jays have a doubleheader scheduled today beginning at 4:05 p.m after last night's rainout. The Orioles will look for some offense this afternoon. They have just 16 hits in the last four games. Starting with Friday's game at Boston, they have (in order) games with two, five, five and four hits. When the Orioles lost 4-3 to Toronto on Monday night, they had just one hit after...
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Zach Britton looks back at O's season and ahead to team's future

Zach Britton looks back at O's season and ahead to team's future
A few Orioles were approached in the clubhouse today to talk about the Orioles being officially eliminated from the postseason and to look ahead to the team's uncertain future. As usual, closer Zach Britton put it into perspective in both looking back and ahead. "I'm pretty disappointed," Britton said. "As a team, there wasn't one person or two people that were the reason behind it. It was a team effort. We didn't play up to our capability and that's frustrating, knowing that on the 4th...
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Orioles are now officially out of playoffs, crucial offseason is six games away

Orioles are now officially out of playoffs, crucial offseason is six games away
For the Orioles, what was inevitable became final and official at 1:07 a.m. today. Their playoff hopes for 2015 officially ended when Houston won 3-2 at Seattle. They began Monday with an elimination number of two that was reduced to one with their loss and to zero with Houston's victory. The unofficial end is in the eye of the beholder. Some may go back to late July. The Orioles headed to Yankee Stadium trailing the first-place Yankees by four games. They were swept three straight and fell...
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Brad Brach on ninth inning, Chris Tillman on his outing and Matt Wieters on O's offense

Brad Brach on ninth inning, Chris Tillman on his outing and Matt Wieters on O's offense
For the Orioles, it was frustrating to lose another game. For reliever Brad Brach, it was tough to make a good pitch in the ninth inning, but see the end result be that Toronto took the lead on that pitch. Brach came in with the score tied 3-3 in the top of the ninth. He gave up two straight singles to Dioner Navarro and Kevin Pillar to get in immediate trouble. After a sac bunt, he got Justin Smoak to hit a slow roller to first base. Chris Davis probably didn't have time to get a runner out...
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Toronto rallies to beat Orioles and move closer to AL East crown

Toronto rallies to beat Orioles and move closer to AL East crown
The Orioles ended their scoreless streak, but not their losing streak. Toronto rallied from a 3-1 deficit to beat the Orioles 4-3 tonight in the series opener and opening game of a seven-game homestand to conclude the 2015 regular season. With the loss, the Orioles fall to 76-80 with four straight defeats. Their elimination number is one and a Houston win later would eliminate them from playoff consideration. After Toronto tied the score 3-3 in the eighth, the Blue Jays moved ahead against Brad...
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O's game blog: Chris Tillman gets another shot at Toronto in series opener

O's game blog: Chris Tillman gets another shot at Toronto in series opener
The Toronto Blue Jays begin a series in Baltimore tonight against the Orioles as a team closing in on the American League East championship. They hold a four-game lead over the New York Yankees and a magic number of four to succeed the Orioles as division champs. Toronto beat Tampa Bay 5-4 Sunday on Josh Donaldson's walk-off homer. At 90-65, they are a season-high 25 games above .500 for the first time since the final day of the 1993 season (95-67, +28 games). Toronto owns the highest win...
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Matt Wieters on Chris Tillman and possibly playing his last games as an Oriole

Matt Wieters on Chris Tillman and possibly playing his last games as an Oriole
The reality must be setting in after a scoreless weekend in Boston that the Orioles are now on the brink of official elimination from the 2015 playoff race. Their elimination number is 2 as they begin the final homestand tonight against Toronto. Another reality is also at hand - some players may be playing their final week in an Orioles uniform. Pending free agent catcher Matt Wieters is on that list of players. Has he thought about that yet? "I'm trying to embrace it and enjoy this last bit...
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Will the Orioles make Matt Wieters a qualifying offer?

Will the Orioles make Matt Wieters a qualifying offer?
Well, it could be worse for the Orioles. At least they didn't have one teammate attack another in the dugout and choke him. Pitcher Jonathan Papelbon has not exactly been the addition the Washington Nationals had hoped for. After throwing at the head of one of the game's best young stars on Wednesday, he physically went after another yesterday in Bryce Harper. If Papelbon was irritated that Harper didn't run out a fly ball, it must be a new development. I never saw him go after David Ortiz...
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Blanked in Beantown: O's swept by Red Sox, go scoreless for series

Blanked in Beantown: O's swept by Red Sox, go scoreless for series
The Orioles went scoreless in Boston. They were shut out for the third consecutive game today as they lost 2-0 to the Red Sox and got swept in the series. It is the first time they've been held scoreless three straight games since 1957. Boston left-hander Henry Owens blanked the Orioles for 7 2/3 innings as the Red Sox completed the sweep at Fenway Park. The Orioles were held to 12 hits in the series, with just two extra-base hits, both doubles. Owens gave up six hits with one walk and five...
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O's game blog: Ubaldo Jimenez on the mound in Boston series finale

O's game blog: Ubaldo Jimenez on the mound in Boston series finale
The Orioles began this series at Boston with 11 wins in their last 15 games, a .500 record and momentum coming off a three-game sweep of the Washington Nationals. But today, they must win to avoid getting swept three straight at Fenway Park. They have fallen to a record of 76-78 with eight games left after losses of 7-0 and 8-0. Add to that their 10-1 loss to Boston on Sept. 16 and they've been outscored 25-1 in losing three in a row to the Red Sox. With those three defeats, the Orioles are...
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O's momentum hits a brick wall at Fenway Park

O's momentum hits a brick wall at Fenway Park
It seemed that a group of fired-up Orioles got on the plane after the game in Washington on Thursday. They swept the Nationals. They hit huge homers. They played great defense and were making a late charge to try and keep playoff hopes alive. But just which players got off the plane in Boston? We've seen a group playing without the same passion and fire, it sure seems. Hard to not look flat and disinterested when you have seven hits and no runs in this series, and give up six unearned runs....
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Blanked again: O's fall flat in Boston, lose 8-0 to Red Sox

Blanked again: O's fall flat in Boston, lose 8-0 to Red Sox
In Washington, the Orioles played winning baseball with fire and passion. In Boston, they have lost and looked flat in doing so. For the second straight game, the Orioles were shut out. They lost 8-0 today at Boston in a game where a relief pitcher made his first-ever big league start. It got so bad for the Orioles this afternoon that Manny Machado made errors in the seventh and eighth innings, allowing four runs to score, and the O's allowed a season-high six unearned runs on the day. The...
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O's game blog: Wei-Yin Chen on mound in Game 2 in Boston

O's game blog: Wei-Yin Chen on mound in Game 2 in Boston
The Orioles hit dramatic late-inning homers to pull out wins on Wednesday and Thursday at Washington, but they were held to two singles by Rich Hill at Fenway Park and shut out 7-0 last night. This afternoon, they need a win at Boston to even this series and get back to the .500 mark at 77-77. The Orioles went 2-for-29 at bat and were shut out for the 10th time this year. It was the first time they were shut out at Fenway Park since June 7, 2012. For Hill, it was his second career shutout - his...
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Will a strong third pitch make Kevin Gausman a top of rotation pitcher?

Will a strong third pitch make Kevin Gausman a top of rotation pitcher?
The thinking from some Orioles fans goes like this: Kevin Gausman needs to improve his third pitch to become a top of the rotation starting pitcher. While I don't disagree, I don't think it is a prerequisite. Of course, it would help a lot. Three good pitches is better than two. But keep in mind Gausman's fastball and changeup are already plus pitches. Also, even pitchers that have three solid pitches often don't have all three working on a given night. O's manager Buck Showalter often...
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Rich Hill silences O's bats as they lose Boston series opener

Rich Hill silences O's bats as they lose Boston series opener
Rich Hill proved to be too big of a mountain for Orioles hitters to climb tonight. The 35-year-old left-hander was pitching just a few weeks ago for the Atlantic League's Long Island Ducks after he was released by Washington. Tonight, Hill pitched a complete-game two-hitter for Boston in a 7-0 victory over the Orioles at Fenway Park. Needing to continue to reel off wins for their longshot playoff hopes, the O's instead lost as their bats were quiet. The Orioles fell back under .500 at 76-77...
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O's game blog: Orioles look for fourth straight win in Boston series opener

O's game blog: Orioles look for fourth straight win in Boston series opener
As they try for a fantastic finish and to catch three teams ahead of them for the second American League wild card, the Orioles open a three-game series at Boston tonight. The Orioles are 11-5 against the Red Sox this year, including a 4-3 mark at Fenway Park. The O's are 46-26 versus the Red Sox since 2012. This year, Boston's team ERA is 4.50 against the Orioles and Red Sox starting pitchers have an ERA of 5.71 against Baltimore in the season series. The Red Sox beat Tampa Bay on Monday,...
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Notes on starting pitching, one-run games and some wild card math

Notes on starting pitching, one-run games and some wild card math
The Orioles' three-game sweep of the Washington Nationals was quite impressive. They did it without Adam Jones and Zach Britton. They did it winning games where they trailed in the seventh inning Wednesday and in the eighth inning yesterday. They did it against a Nats team desperate for wins to make the playoffs. The Orioles have their own level of desperation going right now, but they have turned around their recent losing stretch to get back to .500. The Orioles are 3 1/2 games back of...
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Matt Wieters hits go-ahead homer in eighth as O's complete sweep

Matt Wieters hits go-ahead homer in eighth as O's complete sweep
For the second day in a row, the Orioles got a go-ahead homer in the late innings. It led to another important win this afternoon and a three-game sweep on the road of the Washington Nationals. With the Orioles trailing 4-3 in the eighth, Matt Wieters crushed a two-run homer to center off Blake Treinin. The Orioles went on to win 5-4 to improve to 76-76. They have won 11 of 15 games, and climbed back to .500 for the first time since Aug. 26. The Orioles are now 4-66 when trailing after six...
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