Miguel Gonzalez will be able to say he finished strong in 2013.
The right-hander capped a solid September with a sharp seven innings tonight in pitching the Orioles past Toronto 3-2 in front of 27,498 at Camden Yards.
With the win, the Orioles broke the 9-9 tie and won the season series, 10-9 over the Blue Jays. The O's improved to 34-39 in games against the AL East and to 18-31 in one-run games.
Gonzalez gave up just two hits and one unearned run, with one walk and five strikeouts. He threw 106 pitches and improved to 3-1 this year against Toronto and to 11-8 with an ERA of 3.78 for the season. He retired 13 in a row until he gave up a J.P. Arencibia double in the seventh.
In five September starts, Gonzalez is 3-1 with an ERA of 2.30.
After Toronto scored an unearned run in the first when left fielder Jason Pridie dropped a fly ball, Matt Wieters tied the game in the second with his 22nd home run. He hit a 1-2 curveball out to left for his 13th Camden Yards homer of 2013.
The O's took a 3-1 lead in the third on a Nick Markakis RBI double and Wieters' sac fly for his 77th RBI, which is six off last season's career high.
Wieters leads the American League with 12 sacrifice flies.
Toronto pulled to within 3-2 against Tommy Hunter in the eighth, but he got out a big jam to keep the lead, fanning Moises Sierra and Anthony Gose on 97 and 98 mph fastballs with runners on second and third.
Jim Johnson pitched the ninth to record his AL-leading 48th save and it was his 99th save the last two seasons.
The O's improved to 83-76 and host Boston for three games beginning Friday night to wrap up the season.
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