Jimenez mesmerizes Blue Jay hitters
Toronto is just the remedy for O’s struggling starter
Ubaldo Jimenez pitched eight shutout innings as the Baltimore Orioles downed the Toronto Blue Jays, 2-0, on Thursday night in a battle of the last two teams in Major League Baseball’s American League East.
Caleb Joseph drove in a run for Baltimore (39-39) and Jonathan Schoop hit a sacrifice fly. Brad Brach earned the save, his 15th of the season.
Jimenez (3-3), who came into the game with a 7.26 earned-run average, allowed just two hits and a walk while striking out eight batters to improve to 8-5 in his career against the Blue Jays.
Toronto’s (37-41) lone hits off Jimenez came on a pair of two-out doubles — one from Ryan Goins in the third inning and another from Kevin Pillar in the eighth. Russell Martin hit a single off Brach in the ninth.
J.A. Happ (2-5) allowed two runs on eight hits over 6 1/3 innings, walking two and striking out two while surpassing his loss total from all of last season.
Jimenez was just as good Thursday as he was in his last start against Toronto on Sept. 29, 2016, when he pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings while surrendering just one hit at Rogers Centre.
The Orioles gave him all the run support he needed early.
They first got on the board in the third inning as Schoop drove in Ruben Tejada from third base with a sac fly to left-centre field. Tejada had led off the inning with a single and advanced to third on a Joey Rickard double.
Happ bounced back with a five-pitch fourth inning that saw him retire all three batters on ground-ball outs and worked around a two-out walk in the fifth to keep the Jays in the game.
But Baltimore tacked on another run in the sixth to extend its lead to 2-0 when Joseph, inserted into the starting lineup just before the game in place of an injured Welington Castillo (left knee sprain), drove in Adam Jones from second base with a single.
A defensive gem from Pillar kept the leadoff man from reaching in the seventh.
The Toronto centre fielder sprinted toward the fence to track down a Tejada fly ball and caught it as he crashed into the wall. Happ’s night ended when he allowed a single to the next batter, but Dominic Leone got a strikeout and diving catch from Ezequiel Carrera in left field to end the inning.
Toronto threatened briefly in the eighth when Pillar hit a twoout double deep to right field.
But Manny Machado caught a foul pop up from Goins to end the inning.
NOTES: Attendance was 37,291 . ... The Blue Jays continue their home stand with a three-game series against the Boston Red Sox starting Friday. RHP Marco Estrada (4-6, 4.89 ERA) starts for Toronto. The Red Sox counter with RHP Doug Fister (0-1, 4.50 ERA).