Reynolds, Britton lead O's to 12-0 romp at Toronto, share of first place in AL East

Mark Reynolds hit another big home run. Zach Britton pitched another strong game. The surging Orioles picked up another win. It was close for a while, but ended as a blowout 12-0 victory over Toronto as the Orioles take the first two games in the series by shutouts. They have now held their opponents off the scoreboard for 22 straight innings. This win could lead them to a first-place tie in the American League East. Tampa Bay is leading New York 5-2 in the eighth and the Orioles would tie New York for first place with a Yankees loss. Instant update: The Yankees lost 5-2 to the Rays, meaning the Orioles are tied with the Bronx Bombers for first place. After being held to one hit through four innings by Toronto starter Carlos Villanueva, Reynolds hit a three-run shot that just got over the left-field wall after an Adam Jones double and a walk to Chris Davis. That broke the scoreless tie. For Reynolds, it was his fifth homer in his last five games, his eighth over the last 20 and his 17th on the year. In five games on this road trip, Reynolds is 8-for-19 with five homers and 11 RBIs. Over his last 25 games, Reynolds is batting .325 (27-for-83) with five doubles, nine homers and 21 RBIs. The O's blew the game open by scoring three times in the seventh and five times in the eighth. Nick Markakis went 3-for-5 and is batting .415 over his last 17 games. Seven different Orioles drove in runs. The Orioles 12 runs tied their season high (also June 14 vs. Pittsburgh) and their 18 hits sets a season high. Meanwhile, Britton had another outstanding outing, his fourth in a row. Over seven innings he allowed just four hits with two walks and eight strikeouts. He is now 5-1 with a 4.15 ERA. Over the past four starts, Britton is 4-0 with an ERA of 0.94, giving up just three earned runs on 21 hits over 28 2/3 innings. The Orioles improved to 76-59 overall, 39-29 on the road, 30-21 against the AL East and 9-4 versus Toronto. With five games to play against the Jays this year, one more victory will give the Orioles their first season series win against Toronto since 2004. The Oriole have now won five of their last six, nine of 11, 15 of 21 and 21 of the last 29. The Orioles are 30-15 since July 18, when they were 10 games out of first place. A win tomorrow night would give the Orioles their first three-game sweep at Toronto since April 22-24, 2005.