Orioles 5, Blue Jays 2: Ryan Flaherty belted a mammoth two-run homer to help host Baltimore reduce its magic number to one for clinching the American League East.

Adam Jones had three hits and an RBI and Nelson Cruz drove in a run among two hits for the Orioles, who have won eight of nine and can wrap up their first division title since 1997 with a victory Tuesday night. Wei-Yin Chen (16-4) improved to 4-0 over his last seven starts, allowing two runs and nine hits in 5 2/3 innings, and Zach Britton worked out of a ninth-inning jam for his 35th save

Jose Reyes had three hits and scored twice and Edwin Encarnacion added two hits and an RBI for Toronto, which dropped 4 1/2 games behind Kansas City for the second wild card. Marcus Stroman (10-6) had his three-start winning streak snapped, yielding five runs on nine hits in six innings.

The first three batters for both teams each collected hits in the first, leading to Encarnacion's run-scoring single for Toronto and an infield single by Jones and double-play grounder by Cruz to plate two runs for the Orioles. Jones reached on a two-out single in the third, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on Cruz's single to make it 3-1.

Flaherty followed Kelly Johnson's leadoff walk in the fourth with a towering homer to deep right for a 5-1 lead but the Blue Jays got one back in the fifth on Danny Valencia's two-out single. Toronto had two on and one out in the sixth and wasted a leadoff double in the eighth by Dioner Navarro en route to stranding 11 runners.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Orioles manager Buck Showalter registered his 1,253rd victory, tying Billy Martin for 36th place on the all-time list. He also became the third Baltimore manager (Hank Bauer, Earl Weaver) with multiple 90-win seasons. ... Blue Jays 3B Steve Tolleson had a pair of hits and escaped a scare when he was hit on the arm by teammate Munenori Kawasaki's foul ball while sitting in the dugout. ... Flaherty's blast, his first since Aug. 31, boosted the Orioles' record to 74-31 this season when they homer.