Baseball roundup: Orioles on the brink

Wei-Yin Chen earned his 16th win as the Orioles beat the Blue Jays, 5-2, last night in Baltimore and moved to the brink of clinching their first AL East title in 17 years. Baltimore is 48-21 since falling to 42-39 on June 29 and has a 121/2-game lead, its biggest since 1979. The Orioles can wrap it up by beating Toronto tonight.

Former Patchogue-Medford star Marcus Stroman (10-6) gave up five runs in six innings. In the fifth inning, Stroman threw a pitch that soared by the head of Caleb Joseph, seemingly a response to Joseph's blocking the plate on a slide by Jose Reyes in the top of the inning.

"It really pushed the hot button with all of us because it certainly wasn't called for," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "That was obvious. It was borderline professionally embarrassing."

Stroman insisted the pitch just got away from him. "Fastball in that just kind of slipped out of my hand," he said. "It's late in the game, I got two big strikeouts, I'm a little excited and trying to get out of the inning. I know it's possibly my last hitter. Just trying to execute a fastball in."

Angels 8, Mariners 1: Matt Shoemaker (16-4) pitched five-hit ball into the eighth inning, David Freese and Brennan Boesch homered and Albert Pujols had a three-run double for host Los Angeles. The Mariners dropped two games behind Kansas City for the second AL wild-card spot.

Royals 4, White Sox 3: Pinch runner Terrance Gore scored from second on an infield single in the ninth for host Kansas City. Wade Davis (9-2) extended his scoreless streak to 312/3 innings.

Tigers 8, Twins 6: Torii Hunter and Miguel Cabrera hit back-to-back homers in the ninth for visiting Detroit.

Nationals 4, Braves 2: Stephen Strasburg (12-11) threw seven scoreless innings for visiting Washington, which can clinch the NL East title tonight.

Dodgers 11, Rockies 3: Justin Turner's tiebreaking two-run double ignited visiting Los Angeles' eight-run sixth.

D-backs 6, Giants 2: Mark Trumbo's grand slam and five RBIs led host Arizona.

Padres 1, Phillies 0: Andrew Cashner pitched a two-hitter for host San Diego. The Phillies' Jonathan Papelbon was suspended seven games for making a lewd gesture and bumping an umpire.-- AP