O's game blog: Chris Tillman faces the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre

TORONTO - Still with a shot to catch the Blue Jays for the first American League wild card while also trying to hold off the teams trailing them for the second wild card, the Orioles play in Toronto tonight in the second game of a three-game series.

The Birds were held to eight hits - just one for extra bases, a double - and went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position on Tuesday night. They were held to one run over six innings by Aaron Sanchez in a 5-1 loss.

The Orioles (85-72) lead the Tigers by one game, the Mariners by 1 1/2 games and the Astros by three games for the second wild card after Seattle beat Houston today. A loss by the Orioles tonight and a win by Detroit against Cleveland would leave the O's and Tigers tied for the second wild card and leading Seattle by just one game. On the other hand, an O's win tonight moves them within one game of Toronto for the first wild card.

They'll begin tonight once again looking to break out on offense after scoring just 24 runs over the past 10 games, scoring two or fewer runs seven times in that span.

Several hitters are struggling right now, including Jonathan Schoop, who is 0-for-20 in his last five games and batting .149 over his last 24 games. Chris Davis is 4-for-39 (.103) in his past eight games. Adam Jones is 3-for-27 (.111) over his last seven contests. Meanwhile, shortstop J.J. Hardy doubled and scored the only run last night and is batting .382 (21-for-55) over his last 17 games.

The Orioles have scored three runs or fewer in 39 of 70 games since the All-Star break, going 9-30 in those games and 34-36 in the second-half.

Orioles right-hander Chris Tillman (16-6, 3.84 ERA) gets the start tonight facing Toronto lefty Francisco Liriano (8-13, 4.88 ERA).

The Orioles are 21-8 in Tillman's starts this year. If he gets a win tonight, it would be a career-high 17th for Tillman, who was also a 16-game winner in 2013.

Tillman will try to keep Toronto off the scoreboard in the first inning tonight. Josh Donaldson hit a two-run homer in the opening inning last night. The Orioles rank last in the AL in first-inning team ERA:

5.85 - Orioles
5.64 - Angels
5.50 - Royals
5.33 - Twins

Toronto ranks first in the league with the lowest ERA in the opening inning at 2.69. Blue Jays starting pitchers are on a roll right now, allowing one earned run or less in six straight games for the first time since May 1983.

Toronto is 46-33 at home, 36-30 in the second half and 38-33 versus the AL East. The Blue Jays have won four of five, six of eight and eight of their last 12 games.

Liriano was acquired by the Blue Jays from Pittsburgh on Aug. 1 in a deal that sent pitcher Drew Hutchison to the Pirates. In nine games (seven starts) for Toronto since that deal, he is 2-2 with a 3.35 ERA and 1.186 WHIP. With Pittsburgh, he went 6-11 with a 5.46 ERA and 1.619 WHIP.

Coming off a start where he pitched six shutout innings against the Yankees, Liriano is 1-1 with a 1.96 ERA over his past three starts. Over 18 1/3 innings, he has walked five with 16 strikeouts. In eight career starts versus the Orioles, he is 2-4 with a 5.01 ERA.

In three starts this season against Toronto, Tillman is 1-0 with a 4.32 ERA. In 23 career starts, he is 5-10 with a 5.61 ERA. Tillman pitched well in one start this season at Rogers Centre, allowing two runs over 5 2/3 on July 31. But in 12 career starts at the ballpark, he is 2-6 with a 7.51 ERA.

Four IronBirds made the list: Baseball America released its list today of the top 20 prospects from this season in the New York-Penn League. Four Orioles players from short-season Single-A Aberdeen made the list.

Right-handed pitcher Cody Sedlock was ranked No. 5. The Orioles' first-round draft pick in June, the 21-year-old Sedlock went 0-1 with an ERA of 3.00 in nine games for the IronBirds.

Left-hander Keegan Akin (0-1, 1.04 ERA) was the No. 12 prospect, with outfielder Austin Hays (.336 batting average) at No. 14 and left-handed pitcher Alexander Wells (4-5, 2.15 ERA) at No. 20.