Mark Reynolds hit a three-run homer, Zach Britton pitched seven innings to win his fourth straight start, and the Baltimore Orioles moved into a first-place tie in the AL East with a 12-0 victory over the Blue Jays Tuesday night in Toronto.
Baltimore’s third consecutive victory coupled with the Yankees’ loss at Tampa Bay gave the Orioles a share of first place in September for the first time since 1997, the last time they won the division and advanced to the playoffs.
Reynolds went 3 for 4 with four RBIs as the Orioles pounded out a season-high 18 hits.
Recalled from Triple A Norfolk to face the Blue Jays, Britton (5-1) allowed four hits and improved to 4-0 with a 0.94 ERA in four starts since his last loss on Aug. 1 against New York. The lefthander struck out eight and walked two, one intentional.
Kevin Gregg worked the eighth and Zach Phillips finished for the Orioles, who have won three straight and 21 of 29.
Struggling Toronto was held scoreless for the second straight game and has dropped four in a row.
Carlos Villanueva (7-5) lost for the fifth time in seven starts, allowing a season-high six runs and seven hits in 6⅔ innings.
Rays 5, Yankees 2 — Evan Longoria hit a go-ahead homer and Tampa Bay dropped struggling New York into a tie for first place in the AL East.
Desmond Jennings and B.J. Upton also homered for the third-place Rays, who pulled within 1½ games of the Orioles and Yankees. Tampa Bay trailed by a season-high 10½ games at the end of play July 18.
Twins 18, White Sox 9 — Chris Parmelee homered during a 10-run fifth inning and Minnesota routed host Chicago.
The Twins also batted around in a seven-run second, but first-place Chicago remained one game ahead of Detroit in the AL Central.
Angels 6, Athletics 1 — Zack Greinke pitched seven sharp innings to win his third consecutive start and Los Angeles won in Oakland to remain 3½ games out of a wild-card spot in the American League.
Indians 3, Tigers 2 — Justin Masterson pitched six solid innings, and Cleveland won in Detroit.
Miguel Cabrera hit a two-run homer for Detroit, but the Tigers missed another opportunity against a struggling team. Masterson (11-12) allowed two runs and four hits. He walked one and struck out four.
Brewers 8, Marlins 4 — Norichika Aoki and Jeff Bianchi each homered and drove in three runs for visiting Milwaukee in Miami.
Ryan Braun drove in Milwaukee’s other two runs to give him 98 RBIs, which leads the National League.
Nationals 11, Cubs 5 — Adam LaRoche hit two of Washington’s six homers, Ian Desmond had four RBIs, and the Nationals beat visiting Chicago to open up a season-high 7½ game lead in the NL East.
Pirates 6, Astros 2 — Andrew McCutchen had his major league-leading sixth four-hit game of the season and drove in three runs to lead host Pittsburgh past Houston .
Cardinals 5, Mets 1 — Jaime Garcia carried a shutout into the eighth inning and Yadier Molina got his 1,000th career hit with an infield single that started a three-run second against rookie Matt Harvey in host St. Louis’s victory.
Rockies 6, Braves 0— Carlos Gonzalez hit his second home run since July 23 to give Colorado the lead, Jordan Pacheco also homered and drove in two runs, and the Rockies beat host Atlanta.
Reds 2, Phillies 1 — Jay Bruce homered for the third straight game, hitting a two-run shot that sent host Cincinnati over Philadelphia.
Royals 6, Rangers 3 — Jeremy Guthrie pitched seven strong innings and Kansas City got home runs from Alex Gordon and Johnny Giavotella in a victory over visiting Texas.