O's game blog: Orioles will become first team in eight years to win the division by 10 games (O's lose 4-2)

The Orioles lead the American League East by 12 games with two to play, so they are going to become the first team to win the division by double digits since the 2006 Yankees won by 10 games. The Orioles have the best record in baseball since June 30 (53-26, .671) and are the 20th club in team history to win 90 games games. Orioles lefty Wei-Yin Chen (16-5, 3.56 ERA) is having a good September and he'd like to wrap it up with a good outing today at Toronto. In four starts this month, Chen is 2-1 with a 1.82 ERA and a .234 batting average against. It is his best month of the 2014 season. Chen is 7-2 with a 2.74 ERA and .241 average against in 12 starts since the All-Star break. Chen is looking for his 17th win today. If he gets it, that will be the most victories by an Orioles left-hander since Jeff Ballard went 18-8 in 1989. Chen allows a batting average of exactly .268 to both left- and right-handed batters. In two starts this season against the Blue Jays, he is 1-1 with a 5.06 ERA. In 10 2/3 innings, he has given up 17 hits. In three career starts versus Toronto, Chen is 1-2 with a 6.32 ERA. Left-hander J.A. Happ (10-11, 4.27 ERA) gets the start this afternoon for Toronto. In four games (three starts) this season against the Orioles, he is 1-2 with a 3.18 ERA. The Orioles have won the season series against Toronto for the third year in a row. It is the first time the Orioles have done that since 1994-96. After losing six and tying one season series against Toronto from 2005-11, the Orioles went 11-7 in 2012, 10-9 last year and are 10-7 this season. That is a three-year mark of 31-23. According to STATS, the Orioles have never won more than 11 games against Toronto in a single-season, and they did that in 2012, 2004, 1980 and 1979. Nelson Cruz has batted .362 with three homers, 14 RBIs and a .975 OPS against Toronto this year. David Lough is batting .421 with a homer and three RBIs. Steve Pearce is batting .364 with three homers and seven RBIs. Orioles closer Zach Britton is 1-0 with an ERA of 1.13 in seven games with four saves in four chances against the Blue Jays this season. The Orioles by month: March/April - 12-12 May - 15-15 June - 16-12 July - 17-8 August - 19-9 September - 16-9 Update: Chen pitched six solid innings and Adam Jones hit his 29th homer of the year, but fielding hampered the Orioles again. The Blue Jays won 4-2 in part because of three more Orioles errors this afternoon - one each from third baseman Alexi Casilla, first baseman Christian Walker and reliever Brad Brach. The O's have committed seven errors in the last three games and Baltimore third basemen have committed six errors in the last nine contests. Chen allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits while walking one and fanning three in six innings. But he took the loss to end the regular season 16-6 with a 3.54 ERA. The Orioles have now lost three straight and are 95-66 heading into tomorrow's regular season finale.



Casilla in Orioles lineup
Reading into Casilla's arrival
 

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