The Baltimore Orioles

The Baltimore Orioles delivered the opening salvo in a four-game series against visiting Toronto and hope to make up more ground on the first-place Blue Jays when the teams meet again Friday. The Orioles defeated Toronto ace Mark Buehrle 4-2 in Thursday’s opener to cut the Blue Jays’ American East lead to 3 1/2 games. Toronto lost for the fifth time in six games while Baltimore has won eight of its last 12.

Orioles outfielder Nick Markakis had two hits and an RBI on Thursday and moved into seventh place in franchise history with 1,453 career hits. The nine-year veteran has never had a 200-hit campaign in his career but has topped 170 six times and is batting .305 this season. The Blue Jays have tallied just nine runs over the last six games – four total in the five defeats – as power-hitting third baseman Edwin Encarnacion has dropped into a 2-for-22 slump.

TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, SNET (Toronto), MASN (Baltimore)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Blue Jays RH Drew Hutchison (4-4, 3.96 ERA) vs. Orioles RH Ubaldo Jimenez (2-7, 5.01)

Hutchison was roughed up in his last start when he gave up five runs and six hits in three innings in a loss to St. Louis. The poor outing came after he tossed seven innings of three-hit shutout ball against Detroit in his previous turn. Hutchison struck out nine and gave up two runs and six hits in a no-decision against Baltimore on April 24 and is 1-0 with a 1.50 ERA in four starts against the Orioles.

Jimenez is 0-3 over his last six starts since last winning against Tampa Bay on May 8. He had control issues in his last turn when he lasted just 2 1/3 innings against Oakland and walked five while allowing six runs and two hits. Jimenez is 2-2 with a 5.23 ERA in six career starts against Toronto after giving up five runs and 10 hits in 5 1/3 innings in a loss to the Blue Jays on April 13.

WALK-OFFS

1. Blue Jays SS Jose Reyes has a 13-game hitting streak but has just one hit in 11 of them.

2. Orioles OF Nelson Cruz, who has 21 homers and 55 RBIs, hasn’t homered or driven in a run in the last nine games.

3. Toronto RF Jose Bautista is just 2-for-22 against Jimenez.

PREDICTION: Blue Jays 6, Orioles 5

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