Ubaldo Jimenez pitches a gem as O's beat Toronto, even series

For the Orioles, it was a nice answer to Friday's blowout loss. For right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez, it was a fresh start and a chance to show his spring training progress was meaningful.

Jimenez pitched seven scoreless one-hit innings and Jonathan Schoop hit his first career grand slam as the O's beat Toronto 7-1 in front of 38,897 at Camden Yards.

After going 6-9 with a 4.81 ERA last year and pitching to a 6.59 ERA last April, Jimenez was in control from the start tonight. He retired the first nine Jays in order, four on strikeouts. He exited the game with an 11-to-2 ground-to-air out ratio. He retired the side in order five times.

Over the seven frames, Jose Reyes had the only hit, a clean single to left to leadoff the fourth. Jimenez walked just one and fanned eight, throwing 96 pitches, 61 for strikes.

It was his first scoreless start with the Orioles since last May 13 when he blanked the Tigers over seven innings. This was the longest outing by an O's starter through the first five games.

Toronto avoided a shutout on Edwin Encarnacion's RBI single off Zach Britton with two outs in the ninth.

Last season, Schoop went 1-for-12 when batting with the bases loaded. He is 1-for-1 this year after he unloaded a grand slam to left off Todd Redmond in the fifth inning to extend the O's lead to 7-0. It was his second homer in two nights and first career slam.

The O's last grand slam was Aug. 31 against Minnesota by J.J. Hardy.

The Orioles, who led the majors in homers in 2014, hit two in the first three batters in the first to take an early 2-0 lead off Aaron Sanchez, Toronto's No. 2 prospect.

Leadoff batter Alejandro De Aza hit a 1-0 pitch onto the flag court in right for his second homer of the year. It was the O's first leadoff homer since Sept. 25 when Nick Markakis hit one at New York.

Two batters later, Chris Davis delivered a homer to left-center on a 94 mph first-pitch fastball. It was Davis' first homer since Sept. 6 against Tampa Bay's Drew Smyly and made it 2-0.

Adam Jones grounded into a double play with the bases loaded and no outs in the third to make it 3-0. De Aza singled to lead off the inning and singles by Steve Pearce and Davis followed.

Now 3-2, the Orioles host Toronto Sunday afternoon in the series-deciding game when Chris Tillman (1-0, 1.35 ERA) faces Drew Hutchison (1-0, 1.50 ERA) at 1:35 p.m.