Orioles with back-to-back shutouts and division series win

Kevin Gausman struck out the side in the first inning tonight and made it four in a row and six of eight, blowing through the Yankees' order the first time through it.

Strikeouts can run up a pitch count when accompanied by a heavy assortment of foul balls, and high pitch counts reduce the chances of a complete game, but Gausman's priorities were in a different order.

Get as deep into his start as possible and give the Orioles a chance to win.

It's now been 321 games since the Orioles' last complete game, but the rotation stayed on its recent roll with Gausman tossing six scoreless innings in a 2-0 victory over the Yankees before 30,855 at Camden Yards.

Coupled with another Blue Jays loss tonight, the Orioles were able to move within two games of first place in the American League East.

Zach Britton registered his 40th save with ease and manager Buck Showalter passed Miller Huggins for 25th place on the all-time wins list with 1,414.

The Orioles (74-61) notched their seventh shutout and their second in two nights.

Adam Jones hit his 25th home run, a solo shot off CC Sabathia with two outs in the fifth, to increase the lead to 2-0. Jones has reached that total in six consecutive seasons.

The Orioles received three quality starts in the three-game series against the Jays and Dylan Bundy tossed 5 2/3 scoreless innings last night. Then along came Gausman, who allowed only two hits, walked two and struck out eight.

Gausman's on his own roll, shutting out opponents in his last three starts over 19 innings. He's walked four and struck out 19.

By winning his last four starts, Gausman has improved to 7-10 with a 3.58 ERA in 140 innings.

Showalter brought in Mychal Givens to start the seventh with Gausman at 109 pitches. Gausman threw 112, 110 and 108 in his three previous starts, never going more than seven innings.

He's done enough to keep winning.

Gausman loaded the bases with one out in the fourth on a walk, infield hit and hit batter, but he struck out Starlin Castro and retired Brian McCann on a fly ball to left.

The Orioles broke the scoreless tie in the bottom half on Mark Trumbo's leadoff double, Chris Davis' one-out bloop single into right field and Aaron Judge's fielding error. Trumbo initially held at third until Judge booted the ball.

The Yankees threatened again in the fifth on Judge's one-out walk and what initially was ruled an infield hit for Brett Gardner with two outs. Manny Machado made the backhanded stop and throw, and Gardner was out after a review that took only 38 seconds.

We're not talking about a slow-footed Yankee here. We're talking about Brett Gardner. Machado's play was elevated from great to impossible.

Machado had a ground-rule double in the first for his 250th career extra-base hit -142 doubles, seven triples and 101 home runs.

Gausman needed only eight pitches to retire the side in order in the sixth and took the rest of the night off.

In five starts against the Yankees this season, Gausman has allowed only three runs over 33 2/3 innings.

Givens gave up a one-out single to McCann in the seventh and fielded Mark Teixeira's comebacker to start a double play.

Caleb Joseph still doesn't have an RBI after flying out to strand two runners in the second and sending a slow roller in front of the mound with runners on the corners and no outs in the seventh. J.J. Hardy, who doubled and took third on Michael Bourn's infield hit, was caught in a rundown.

Joseph is 2-for-24 with runners in scoring position. But he's behind the plate for his defense and handling of the staff, and made a nice play on McCann's tapper to start a 2-6-3 double play that ended the second inning.

The Orioles could have made it easier on themselves in the seventh, but they failed to score after putting runners on the corners with no outs and loading the bases with two outs.

It didn't matter. Brad Brach stranded Chase Headley in the eighth after an infield hit and Britton remained perfect in save opportunities.

The Orioles had lost five straight division series. That's one streak that ended tonight.