A few notes and quotes on the weekend series at Rogers Centre

TORONTO - The Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays played 19 regular season games last year, with Toronto winning the season series 10-9. Then the American League wild card game went to extra innings before the Blue Jays won. The clubs have played five games this year, none decided by more than two runs.

I sense a theme here. These rivals play a lot of close games. The Orioles have taken two of three in this current series by a combined 9-7 score. On the year the Orioles are 4-1 against the Jays by a combined 15-10 score. If they win this afternoon they'll take three of four in this series at Rogers Centre.

Asher's debut: You only get one chance to make a first impression. Alec Asher's first with the Orioles was strong. The right-hander went 6 1/3 innings Saturday, allowing three hits and one run.

"Good, huh? Was that fun? Must've felt great for him too," manager Buck Showalter said after that game.

Making his 13th career major league start, Asher recorded four 1-2-3 innings in a 93-pitch outing. It had a chance to unravel on him when Toronto had two runners on in the first inning. In 12 previous big league starts, his first inning ERA was 7.71.

"For me, first innings are always the hardest," Asher said. "Especially when you want to make a good impression. But, you know, you just try not to think too much. Go out and execute your plan and hopefully it works."

It did. He got Troy Tulowitzki out to strand those two runners in the first. The crowd of 40,743 was roaring at times, but the 25-year-old right-hander, rather than be intimidated by that, soaked in the experience.

"You just take it in and enjoy it. Try not to let it overwhelm you. It's a loud stadium and that's tough to ignore. But you just go out there and enjoy it, have fun and play the game," said Asher.

Now we wait to see if the Orioles choose to option him out to get another pitcher on the roster. Even if they do, it appears Asher has earned a second start. We just don't know yet when it will come.

Crichton should also return: Right-handed reliever Stefan Crichton was optioned out to Triple-A Norfolk to get Asher activated Saturday. Crichton was with the club for three days but did not get into a game. He impressed Showalter this spring, pitching eight scoreless in spring training games. He didn't get to make his major league debut this weekend, but his day is coming.

"Seems like a guy that would be under control with his emotions," Showalter said of Crichton. "I'd (have) liked to have gotten him in a game. Came close a couple of times. He'll get an opportunity this year. Just want to keep him pitching. Who knows? Might be back sooner than he thinks.

"The one thing I tell all the young guys is to trust your stuff. Don't give the other teams too much credit. Don't go back to the hotel and go, 'Gosh, I wish I had been more aggressive and trusted my stuff.' I said, 'Your stuff plays up here as long as you're not wild in the strike zone.' There's a big difference between command and control. Some have low walk totals in the minors but they are wild in the zone. (Would have) liked to get him a chance to pitch, but he'll get one."

A take on Britton: When Orioles closer Zach Britton gave up a run on Friday night, it was big news. He had gone 19 consecutive games since Aug. 24 without allowing a single run.

Fans used to watching Britton dominate in almost every outing expressed some concern about his two shaky saves in this series.

Showalter expressed no such concern. Yesterday he reminded us that it's OK to not be perfect every time out. Maybe Britton has given up some hits and a run, but he is 5-for-5 in saves this year and has recorded 54 straight since Oct. 1, 2015. So, yeah, pretty good.

"He has set a standard that I don't think you'll see again in your lifetime," Showalter said. "If the fans and people think they have high expectations for him, well they're not higher than Zach Britton, I can tell you that.

"Everyone in that clubhouse knows how hard it is to do what he's done. I don't think anybody is our game is going to ever match what he did last year and continues to do this year. I just hope everybody knows, we're seeing historic pitching."

From May 1 to the end of the 2016 regular season, Britton allowed one earned run over 58 games and 57 innings for an ERA of 0.16. This season he has an ERA of 1.29. In seven innings, he's allowed 10 hits and one run. Right-handed batters are hitting .370 (10-for-27) against him.

My concern level over Britton is low. He'll be fine. He missed some time in the spring, and his usually stellar command is not locked in. Yet.

A rematch today: Right-hander Dylan Bundy broke out his slider and the Toronto Blue Jays could not handle it on April 5 in Baltimore. He threw it 31 percent of the time in giving up four hits and one run against a heavily right-handed-hitting lineup that night.

It will be interesting to see how that plays out today as Bundy faces the same team for the second time in three starts. Will they adjust to the slider? Will he? Will he dominate the Blue Jays again?

According to BrooksBaseball.net, Bundy is allowing a batting average against of .222 this year when an at-bat ends with a slider. But those numbers are .000 for both his changeup and curveball. This kid has pretty good secondary pitches, said Captain Obvious.

The Orioles are 3-2 on this road trip with one game to go here and then three next week in Cincinnati. Playing well on the road will be a key to this season. The 2016 Orioles went 50-31 (.617) at home, but just 39-42 (.481) on the road.