O's beat Blue Jays for first AL East road series win since April

Danny Valencia came up with another big hit for the Orioles today and the Birds pitching made it stand up this afternoon in a 3-1 win at Toronto. The Orioles improve to 79-70 and picked up their first road series win against an AL East opponent since April 11. They also ended a four-series road losing streak. After the Orioles missed on scoring chances in the first two innings, Valencia came up with a two-out, two-run double to left in the third for a 2-1 lead. Adam Lind homered in the second for the Blue Jays. Over his last 15 games since Aug. 4, Valencia is batting .472 (25-for-53) with eight doubles, four homers and 13 RBIs. Chris Davis drew a bases-loaded walk in the fourth for his 131st RBI and a 3-1 O's lead. Davis has 10 RBIs in his last six games against Toronto. Winning pitcher Miguel Gonzalez left the game in the sixth with a right groin strain. It looked like it happened on a pitch where he struck out Lind leading off that inning. Gonzalez gave up just six hits and one run over 5 1/3 innings with no walks and two strikeouts. He threw 86 pitches and improves to 10-7 with an ERA of 3.92. That is a career-high 10 wins for the right-hander and the Orioles are 25-16 in Gonzalez's 41 career starts. Neither team did much with scoring chances today as the Orioles went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position (the one being Valencia's double) and Toronto went 0-for-9. In the last of the seventh, Tommy Hunter fanned Moises Sierra with the bases loaded to end the threat. Jim Johnson pitched the ninth to record his 45th save as the O's bullpen pitched 3 2/3 scoreless innings. The Orioles had lost four of five games and were 13-18 since Aug. 11 before winning today. They now take Monday off and their road trip continues Tuesday night at Boston.