Christian Encarnacion-Strand homered and drove in three runs and Trey Gibson took a shutout into the seventh inning as the Baltimore Orioles completed a doubleheader sweep of the visiting Toronto Blue Jays, winning 4-2 on Wednesday night to stay in playoff contention.
Baltimore (78-81) must win its remaining three games and have the Chicago White Sox (81-76), who were playing in Kansas City on Wednesday night, lose five straight in order to have a chance for an American League wild-card spot.
The Orioles, playing their final home games, earlier eliminated Toronto from wild card contention by winning 4-2 in the afternoon portion of the day-night twin bill.
Davis Schneider hit a two-run ninth-inning homer off Felix Bautista in the nightcap for the Blue Jays (77-82). Nathan Lukes had two hits.
Gibson (2-3), a rookie who hadn’t pitched in the major leagues since June 30, gave up three hits and two walks while striking out seven in 6 2/3 innings.
A two-out error by second baseman Jeremiah Jackson extended Toronto’s seventh before Gibson walked Schneider, who was the last batter he faced. Reliever Yennier Cano entered and walked Charles McAdoo to load the bases before striking out Myles Straw.
Josh Walker and Bautista each worked an inning to close out the six-hitter.
Toronto starter CJ Van Eyk (0-2), also a rookie, made his first appearance in September and first big-league start. He allowed four runs on four hits in five innings with no walks and two strikeouts.
The Orioles opened the scoring for the second time in the day, this time posting three first-inning runs. Encarnacion-Strand drove in two runs with a single to left, and Colton Cowser doubled in the next run.
Encarnacion-Strand hit his 11th home run of the season leading off the fourth inning.
The Orioles finished 39-42 in home games under first-year manager Craig Albernaz.
Both teams are off Thursday before beginning their respective three-game series to end the regular season. The Orioles will visit the New York Yankees, while the Blue Jays will return home to meet the Cincinnati Reds.
–Field Level Media
