Orioles lose to Blue Jays for second straight game

BALTIMORE -- The Orioles insist they're not watching the scoreboard. They say they're concentrating on the last-place Toronto Blue Jays.

They will need to concentrate harder.

Tuesday night, the Orioles lost for the second straight game, 4-0, to the Blue Jays.

Baltimore remained 1 1/2 games behind first-place New York in the AL East. The Yankees lost, 5-4, at Minnesota. The Orioles had won seven of their previous nine. They had not been shut out since Aug. 3.

"You're always going to get everyone's best shot and when we had been struggling and we'd go into certain venues where there's a good emotion in the ballpark, it feeds the other team as well as us," Showalter said.

Joe Saunders (2-3) pitched 61/3 innings, allowing four runs -- three earned -- and 11 hits. He struck out two and walked none.

"I didn't feel I had my best stuff, but I feel like I kept my team in the game as best I could. I think we've played like 100 innings the last five days, so bullpen's pretty burnt up, so I had to go as deep as I could," Saunders said.

In the seventh inning, Colby Rasmus and Edwin Encarnacion had RBI singles to extend Toronto's lead to 4-0.

The Orioles loaded the bases in the ninth on an error and two walks, but Ryan Flaherty flied out to end the game. Dylan Bundy made his second appearance for Baltimore. The 19-year-old pitched a scoreless ninth, but allowed his first hit. -- AP