After impressive series win against Toronto, it's on to K.C. for the Orioles

The Orioles' lead in the American League East was down to 1 1/2 games when they lost to Toronto on Tuesday night at Camden Yards. Now it is 3 1/2 games after they posted impressive back-to-back wins over Toronto.

A few clutch hits finally came and O's pitching was so impressive the last two nights, just at a time when the staff was getting some major criticism.

The Orioles held Toronto to five runs the last two nights and Blue Jays batters went just 2-for-20 with runners in scoring position. Chris Tillman needed 38 pitches to get through the first inning last night. Who knew then that Toronto would not score the rest of that game that the Orioles won 3-2?

But after Michael Saunders doubled off Tillman with one out in the second inning, Toronto hitters went 1-for-23 the rest of the game and 0-for-17 to end it against Tillman, Dylan Bundy, Darren O'Day and Zach Britton.

The O's bullpen lowered its ERA to 1.94 on the year and gave up just two runs in 11 innings in the series. Tillman provided the Orioles with their third quality start after his shaky first inning. He needed 38 pitches in that long top of the first inning and then just 67 over the next five innings.

The Orioles improved to 7-1 at home, 6-2 against the AL East, and to 3-0 when they don't hit a homer. All those records are encouraging moving forward for a team that has designs on proving some of its critics wrong in 2016.

This is an interesing week and weekend upcoming for the Orioles as they move on to Kansas City. They just played Toronto and now have three on the road with the defending World Series champion Royals. They were the two winningest teams in the American League last year. Kansas City went 95-67, winning the AL Central, and Toronto went 93-69, taking the AL East.

The Royals are 10-5 on the year and now two division leaders go head-to-head this weekend at Kauffman Stadium.

Manny Machado tied his career-high hitting streak, extending it to 14 games last night with a 2-for-5 game. According to a MASN graphic, that ties for the fourth longest hitting streak to start a season in Orioles' history.

* 17 games - Davey Johnson in 1971
* 15 games - Luis Matos in 2003 and David Newhan in 2004
* 14 games - Manny Machado in 2016, Eddie Murray in 1982 and Brian Roberts in 2005.

Now, the Orioles face a Kansas City team that has won 10 of 15 and is 6-2 at home. The Royals are 13-2 in their last 15 home games dating to the 2015 postseason. Quite a challenge for the Orioles this weekend.