O’s, Canada! Birds tied atop AL Wild Card

TORONTO — The American League Wild Card race is going down to the final weekend of the regular season. The Orioles made sure of that.

Baltimore moved into a tie for the first AL Wild Card spot with a 4-0 victory over the Blue Jays on Thursday night at Rogers Centre. The Orioles entered this series needing to take two of three to keep their hopes of the top spot alive, and in the end, that’s exactly what they did. The Blue Jays won the season series, however, so they would host the O’s in the AL Wild Card Game on Tuesday night should the teams finish the regular season tied.

“I think we’re grinding. We’re grinding it out,” Orioles catcher Matt Wieters said of his club’s fourth consecutive road series win. “I think right now, it’s a focus thing. Everybody’s focused on the same prize, the same goal and we’re going to try to keep that focus going, going to New York [vs. the Yankees this weekend].”

Right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez picked up the victory after he allowed just one hit over 6 2/3 scoreless innings. He struck out five while walking three and had the Blue Jays looking either impatient or uncomfortable in the batter’s box all night long. Chris Davis and Hyun Soo Kim each had a pair of hits, with J.J. Hardy adding a key double in the win.

“It felt great,” Jimenez said of stepping up in a key spot. “There’s no words to put it [in perspective], but all of the guys, they know what we are playing for, and everyone is doing their parts, especially the last two games.”

Toronto initially was hoping to have a chance to clinch a Wild Card spot with a pair of wins on Wednesday and Thursday. The Blue Jays blew a 2-1 lead in the ninth inning of Wednesday night’s loss and followed that performance up by being shut out on three hits in the series finale. The magic number for Toronto and Baltimore to clinch a spot in the postseason is at three with three games to play.

Blue Jays right-hander Marcus Stroman kept his team in it for most of the game, but a run in the seventh and another in the eighth spoiled an otherwise solid outing. He was charged with four runs on nine hits in seven-plus innings, and it marked the first time in six September starts that he allowed more than three runs. Toronto was shut out for the eighth time this season.

MOMENTS THAT MATTEREDUbaldo’s …

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