Yacabonis looking to make an impression (O's end loss streak)

TORONTO - The month of September gives some players in the Orioles clubhouse a chance to show what they can do at the major league level. And perhaps give themselves a jump on making the team next year.

That is true for Orioles right-handed reliever Jimmy Yacabonis, the club's 13th-round pick in 2013 out of St. Joseph's University. The 25-year-old Yacabonis had brief stints with the team earlier this year from June 11-15 and July 2-4. But he has pitched four times this month, throwing 5 2/3 scoreless innings as he tries to show that he can be a key part of a 2018 Orioles bullpen.

After pitching to an ERA of 2.03 last year for Double-A Bowie and 1.32 this year at Triple-A Norfolk, Yacabonis has proven he can get minor league batters out. Now it's time to find out if the right-hander with the mid-90s fastball can take the next step.

He feels he made some real solid improvements this year with Norfolk, especially when the Orioles started stretching out his outings to two and three innings in June.

"I think I definitely took a step forward when they put me in that extended role in Norfolk. Kind of coming in for two or three innings helped me work on my command, especially the changeup and slider," Yacabonis said.

"They just told me that is what is needed at the big league level - guys that could pitch longer in relief. I was pitching well and they wanted me to try it out and I acclimated to it pretty well."

The longer outings helped Yacabonis with his fastball and slider, but also gave him a chance to work on a third pitch.

"It helped with my changeup, too," he said. "I haven't featured it that much but that is going to be a pitch in the future that I plan to use more. I have really started to get a good feel for it. I had a good feel for it at times last year and threw it out in the Fall League in Arizona. But at times I lost that a bit this year because I came in as a closer earlier in the season at Norfolk, throwing all two-seams and sliders. But I'm going to start using it more. I don't like throwing it right-on-right much, but to lefties, I'm going to start using it."

In eight games for the year with the Orioles, Yacabonis is 2-0 with a 3.65 ERA. He made his major league debut June 11 against the Yankees and gave up four runs in an inning. Since then, he has allowed one run over 11 1/3 innings.

He said his slider also made gains this year on the farm.

"I tried to get out in front of my body more," Yacabonis said. "Throwing it with more conviction and throwing it more like a fastball. That helped (increase) the velo and the shape of it. It's a little tighter. Chance Sisco has caught me for several years now and he said sometimes it looks like a true slider and sometimes like a hard cutter versus lefties. It can play either way."

After getting two previous, but brief, call-ups, Yacabonis said he is more comfortable now in the big league clubhouse. And he loves pitching in a bullpen where the veteran members are so willing to help rookies.

"You are definitely more comfortable," he said. "You feel more confident and more like you belong here. And it is such a benefit to me and some of the other younger guys to be able to pick those guys' brains every day. Every day. Any situation that happens, whatever happens in the game they give us little clues and hints and information that is great for us. Everyone is here for one goal - to win. Those guys are role models to me and at the same time teachers."

A losing streak is finally over: The Orioles picked up their first win since they beat the Yankees at home on Sept. 5 in last night's game. This time the 2-1 late lead over Toronto held up. Zach Britton got a save in the ninth on just six pitches. That is probably a pretty clear sign that he was a bit rusty the previous night, although he would not use that excuse.

The Orioles end the year going 12-7 against Toronto. That is their most wins ever in a season over the Blue Jays. For many years, they didn't play Toronto as many as 18 or 19 games over a season, but they have been doing that now since 2001. So 12-7 is pretty solid and tops their 11 wins over the Blue Jays in 1979, 1980, 2004, 2012 and 2014. They went 6-3 at home and 6-4 at Rogers Centre.

The Orioles improved to 72-74 overall and to 28-44 on the road. They played their fourth straight one-run game and they had lost the first three.

Right-hander Kevin Gausman allowed just one run over seven innings on 106 pitches. He is 6-3 with an ERA of 2.53 his past 10 starts. He is 3-0 with an ERA of 1.51 in six starts this year versus Toronto. He went seven innings or more for the fifth time in nine games and allowed two runs or less for the eighth time in 10 starts.

Trey Mancini had an RBI triple and double over his first two at-bats. It was his eighth game on the season with two or more extra-base hits. Jonathan Schoop had two singles and is now batting .302 after his team-leading 50th multi-hit game of 2017.

For the Orioles, the road trip now heads to New York for a four-game series. Tonight, Wade Miley (8-12, 4.96 ERA) pitches against Yankees right-hander Masahiro Tanaka (11-11, 4.82 ERA).