Michael Bourn the basestealer, plus more notes and quotes from Toronto

TORONTO - Do the Orioles, easily the worst base-stealing squad in the major leagues, suddenly have a base-stealing threat?

They certainly do. Michael Bourn has stolen two bases in two nights. That gives the Orioles 19 for the year (the next lowest team total in MLB is 35) and Bourn is now two shy of the team lead. Joey Rickard leads the club with four stolen bases.

Bourn swiped second as a pinch-runner in the ninth Wednesday where he scored on Hyun Soo Kim's pinch-hit homer. He stole second in the seventh inning last night where he scored on Kim's single.

When the Orioles acquired Bourn from Arizona, was he aware the team had so few stolen bases?

"I knew they had a few," Bourn said. "But that wasn't what they did. They hit the longball. But (last night) we showed different type of stuff. We got RBIs when men were on third, not trying to hit the longball and we brought them in. We've got good hitters on this team. They know how to do that. In the postseason, if we are able to get to that point, you'll need that as well."

The Orioles' 4-0 win behind Ubaldo Jimenez last night moved them into a tie with Toronto at 87-72 for the top wild card spot. If they remain tied for that top spot with the Blue Jays after 162 games, Toronto would host the wild card game due to winning the season series.

But the back-to-back wins at Rogers Centre have allowed the Orioles to open a 1 1/2-game lead on Detroit for the second wild card while positioning themselves with a chance for the first spot.

"It was big, man," Bourn said. "We got one (Wednesday) and wanted to try and win the series. We came out today and played good baseball all the way around - offense, defense, whatever we needed to do. We came out with the W.

"It's been fun (being an Oriole). I enjoy it. You have to take advantage of being in this situation. It's fun to be a part of this and that's why you play baseball. You want to play when it means something and matters most. I'm just happy they wanted me. Happy to come to the organization and that they sought me out with Arizona and brought me along."

About that pitching: We've seen several Orioles pitchers struggle at Rogers Centre over the years. The crowd is loud, the opponent's lineup is good and O's pitchers have had more than their share of rough games at that ballpark. Before winning on Wednesday with the late rally, the Orioles had lost six of seven, eight of 10 and 12 of their last 17 games there.

But the Orioles pitchers stepped up big and gave up just seven runs (five earned) on 18 hits in the three-game series in Toronto for an ERA of 1.73. Since they trailed 5-1 Tuesday in the fifth inning, O's pitchers gave up just two runs in the last 21 innings of the series.

Jimenez had a career ERA of 8.41 at Rogers Centre until holding Toronto to one hit over 6 2/3 last night.

"He was pounding the zone," catcher Matt Wieters said. "He's going right at hitters and I think in the past, he got himself in trouble with some 0-2 to 3-2 (count) type things, and now he's just going after hitters and making pitches when he has to. He feels real good right now and we feel good playing behind him."

While talking pitching, how about some props for the Orioles bullpen? That unit pitched 7 2/3 scoreless innings in the series and has thrown 18 scoreless frames the last six games.

"It's big," Wieters said. "We've had a lot of guys step up, whether it's Mychal Givens, whether its Ollie (Drake), whether it's Donnie Hart. We've found a lot of guys who have stepped up and that's helped guys like Brad Brach and Darren O'Day and Zach Britton where they can kind of stay in their role and in a role where they've been really good at."

Over the last 16 games, the Orioles bullpen has pitched to an ERA of just 0.64.

Final notes from Toronto:

* The Orioles have now won four consecutive road series, going 2-1 each at Tampa Bay, Detroit, Boston and Toronto. In the last three of those series, they lost the series opener, but then won the next two games.

* Toronto starter Marcus Stroman allowed four runs in seven innings. That snapped Toronto's team-record streak of its starting pitcher allowing one earned run or fewer in seven consecutive games.

* The Orioles held Toronto without a homer in the last two games. Toronto has lost 16 consecutive games when they fail to homer. The Blue Jays are 8-34 on the year when not homering.

* The Orioles pitched their ninth shutout of the year Thursday night. Their last six have come versus AL East foes. Last night was Baltimore's first shutout at Rogers Centre since Sept. 28, 2014.

* Over his last three games, Kim is 4-for-7 with two homers and five RBIs. He has driven in a run in three straight games for the first time in his career.

* J.J. Hardy went 1-for-4 with a double and run scored in the third inning. Over his past 19 games, he is batting .365 (23-for-63).

Now it's on to New York for the Orioles with Yovani Gallardo (5-8, 5.63 ERA) facing Michael Pineda (6-11, 4.68) tonight at Yankee Stadium. Meanwhile, Toronto is scheduled to play three games over the weekend at Boston and the Blue Jays are scheduled to face Rick Porcello, Eduardo Rodriguez and David Price in that series.

With rain in the forecast in the northeast and the race this tight, a wild final weekend has arrived.