Orioles blank Jays, now tied for WC lead

Ezequiel Carrera, in the lead-off spot for a third straight night, had the Blue Jays (87-72) only hit off Jimenez.

With Toronto ahead 2-1, Jonathan Schoop singled with one out, pinch-runner Michael Bourn stole second and Kim homered on a 3-2 pitch into the visiting bullpen in right, causing the Orioles relievers to jump in celebration.

The Orioles play three games against the Yankees in NY while Detroit, which is 1 1/2 games back of Toronto and Baltimore, takes on Atlanta this weekend. “It came down to the end”. Things bottomed out in early July when Ubaldo gave up 5 runs and got only 4 outs against the Angels his ERA had ballooned to 7.38.

At the start of the season, no one team in the AL East had a clear advantage over the others.

Goes 4-0 (91-71) Baltimore, Detroit, Seattle, Houston, New York can not catch.

The Tigers finish the year with three games in Atlanta vs. the Braves, and you’re saying, hey, the Tigers will have it easy with a 92-loss team. Fatigue may be becoming a significant issue. The 34-year-old reportedly felt pain in his groin, but he said after the game that his injury isn’t severe. “You could tell he was a confident pitcher tonight”.

“We’re doing that. The effort hasn’t changed”. After that brutal spring the Orioles thought it would be best for Kim to go to AAA Norfolk to help his transition to the major leagues, but Kim’s contract gave him the right to reject such a demotion and he did. The towering blast landed in the second level of seats beside the left-field foul pole.

Choi Ji-man of Los Angeles, meanwhile, collected his second stolen base of the season in his team’s 8-6 victory against the Oakland Athletics.

Brian McCann went deep for the fourth-place Yankees (84-78), reaching 20 homers for the ninth consecutive season and 10th time overall.

“I guess”, Gibbons said, sounding like he really was guessing. “My fastball just stayed down the middle, and he took advantage of it”.

Toronto Star Baseball columnist Richard Griffin joins Naylor & Landsberg in the Morning to discuss the Blue Jays’ recent dislike towards the media, what may have lead to such a situation and their final weekend of the regular season.

Osuna (3-3) has five blown save chances, including two in his last three appearances.

St. Louis rallied to beat Cincinnati in controversial fashion on Yadier Molina’s two-out RBI double in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Jose Bautista, in what could have been his last home game in a Toronto uniform, was 0 for 4 with three strikeouts.

At many points through the first 159 games of the 2016 season, fans have wondered whether the Toronto Blue Jays are worthy of making the playoffs. “We’re going to try and keep it going as long as we can”.

All the division winners and the team with the best record have been decided for quite some time in the National League. Stuff like today, it’s supposed to happen sometimes. Not so easy, because four teams are still alive for the two wild-card berths, and we might have to see a makeup game Monday before we know where the teams are headed next.

CC Sabathia pitched 7 1/3 effective innings, finishing his eighth season with the Yankees by allowing one run and four hits.

Jays loss/Baltimore loss/Detroit win – This is where it gets goofy.

The Tigers and Indians were rained out in Detroit Thursday.

NOTES: Toronto announced the promotion of Joe Sheehan to assistant GM before the game.