O's beat Toronto to clinch their second straight winning season

The offense finally showed up for the Orioles. Jonathan Schoop homered in his third major league at-bat and Ryan Flaherty hit a pair of two-run homers as a lineup that featured several Orioles reserves beat Toronto 9-5 in front of 23,698 at Camden Yards. With the win, the Orioles improved to 82-76 and clinched a second straight winning season for the first time since 1996-97. The Orioles also ended a six-game losing streak that had tied a season high. Flaherty went 2-for-2 with a hit by pitch and a walk. This was his second career two-homer night. The first also was against Toronto on June 23. He and Schoop combined to give the O's three homers and five RBIs from the Nos. 8 and 9 spots in the order. Schoop singled on a 1-0 pitch in his first at-bat in the third for his first big league hit. He scored on Flaherty's first two-run homer as the O's cut a 3-0 deficit to 3-2. Flaherty's homer was the 77th in Oriole Park history to reach Eutaw Street and the 31st by an Oriole. Steve Pearce homered in the fourth to tie the game at 3-3. The O's took a 6-3 lead in the fifth with a rally that featured a Chris Davis RBI double for his 137th RBI. Schoop's first big league homer came an inning later on a 2-1 pitch from Kyle Drabek for a 7-4 lead. Schoop went 2-for-3 with a walk and three runs. Flaherty added another two-run shot in the eighth and has 10 homers for the season. Tonight ended a streak of 21 straight games where the Orioles had scored five or fewer runs, their longest stretch since 1992. The club record is 26 straight. The Orioles had scored just 13 total runs during the six consecutive losses. The Blue Jays had 15 hits off five O's pitchers, but left 14 runners on base. Starter Bud Norris gave up seven hits and three runs over four innings, throwing 96 pitches. He has an ERA of 7.30 in five home starts. T.J. McFarland got the win in relief. Jason Hammel got the last seven outs and picked up his fourth career save. Toronto falls to 72-86 with its 10th loss in the last 15 games. The Orioles are 9-9 against the Blue Jays on the year and tomorrow's winner will take the season series.