Major League Baseball
Toronto 5, Baltimore 1
When: 1:07 PM ET, Saturday, September 5, 2015
Where: Rogers Centre, Toronto, Ontario
Temperature: 76°
Umpires: Home - Tim Timmons, 1B - Mike Everitt, 2B - Todd Tichenor, 3B - Chris Segal
Attendance: 46373

TORONTO - David Price did his job as the Toronto Blue Jays ace Saturday and in the process won the 100th game of his career.

The left-hander allowed three hits, four walks and one run while striking out eight in seven innings in a 5-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles to force a rubber match in the three-game series Sunday.

The Orioles won 10-2 on Friday and Price (14-5) was able to reverse any momentum that might have created.

"He was great," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "At the end of the day, that's why he's here. Against a tough-hitting lineup ... he faced most of those guys in that lineup so many times ... makes it (even tougher) facing guys like that and to shut them down - it's pretty impressive."

The milestone win improved Price's record to 5-1 in seven starts with the Blue Jays. He is 100-56 in his career.

"That's awesome," Price said. "It took parts of seven seasons to get here."

The New York Yankees lost 3-2 to the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday to drop 1 1/2 games behind the first-place Blue Jays in the American League East.

Right fielder Jose Bautista homered and doubled and had two RBIs to lead the Blue Jays hitters.

Orioles right-hander Mike Wright (2-4), who was activated from the disabled list Friday, allowed three runs, seven hits and one walk in four innings. He struck out four.

It was an improvement on Wright's previous appearance in Toronto, when he allowed three hits, four walks and four runs in 1 1/3 innings.

"He's pitched some good games for us," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "I love the way he attacked the strike zone. I thought it was a good test for him. Mike is going to help us. I like the way he got out there and competed today."

"I got the loss, so I didn't pitch very well, but I felt good," Wright said. "They're just a really good hitting team. ... I felt like attacked the zone pretty well today. That's a positive."

Bautista hit his 32nd homer of the season in the first inning on a 2-2 slider to put Toronto ahead 1-0.

"I should have thrown it off the plate or down and I missed middle with it," Wright said.

The Blue Jays (77-58) took a 2-0 lead in the third on Bautista's RBI double. It scored center fielder Kevin Pillar, who led off with a single and moved to second on a walk by third baseman Josh Donaldson.

"Jose had a nice day, but he does that a lot," Gibbons said. "We did a lot of good things. It wasn't an easy day, it wasn't an easy win by any means, but we got it handed to us last night. We bounced back pretty good today."

Left fielder Ben Revere's RBI single gave the Blue Jays a 3-0 lead in the fourth. Second baseman Ryan Goins, who doubled with one out and took third on Pillar's single, scored on Revere's hit to right.

The Blue Jays scored twice in the fifth against Orioles right-handed reliever Jason Garcia.

Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki singled with one out, took third on a ground-rule double by first baseman Justin Smoak and scored on a groundout to second by catcher Russell Martin. Goins doubled home Smoak for a 5-0 lead.

Price smiled on the mound after he caught a hard line drive hit by Orioles third baseman Manny Machado to lead off the sixth inning.

"It just went in my glove," Price said. "If I don't catch it, it's probably a double off the wall. The ball was hit really hard."

After making the catch, he turned to Goins and said. "That's how you do it right there."

Right fielder Gerardo Parra, the next Baltimore hitter, lined out to Goins.

Blue Jays infielder Cliff Pennington was ejected from the dugout during the seventh inning.

The Orioles (65-70) scored a run in the seventh on walks to designated hitter Chris Davis and second baseman Jonathan Schoop and a single by catcher Caleb Joseph.

Right-hander Aaron Sanchez pitched the eighth inning for the Blue Jays. He allowed an infield single to Machado but induced an inning-ending double play grounder to short from center fielder Adam Jones.

Left-hander Brett Cecil finished the game with a 1-2-3 ninth to extend his scoreless streak to 21 innings.

NOTES: The Blue Jays adjusted their pitching rotation and will start RHP Marco Estrada (11-8, 3.16 ERA) Sunday instead of LHP Mark Buehrle in the series finale against the Baltimore Orioles, who will start RHP Chris Tillman (9-10, 4.87 ERA). The move gives Buehrle, 36, who is feeling the wear and tear of the long season, another day off between starts. He will pitch Monday in the opener of a three-game series against the Red Sox at Boston. It opens up the possibility of RHP Marcus Stroman starting next Saturday at Yankee Stadium instead of Buehrle, who has struggled there in the past. ... CF Adam Jones hit his 25th homer of the season Friday to become the first Orioles player to hit at least 25 homers in five consecutive seasons. ... Orioles SS J.J. Hardy (left groin strain) is on schedule to come off the disabled list Tuesday.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Baltimore   Toronto
Mike Wright Player David Price
Loss W/L Win
4.0 IP 7.0
4 Strikeouts 8
7 Hits 3
6.75 ERA 1.29
Hitting
Baltimore   Toronto
Chris Davis Player Jose Bautista
1 Hits 2
0 RBI 2
0 HR 1
1 TB 6
.333 Avg .500
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Baltimore 4 0 5 .138 14 9 1 4 0 0
Toronto 10 1 18 .294 15 9 5 1 0 0