Chris Tillman eyes his 11th win of the season Friday when the Baltimore Orioles open a three-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays at Camden Yards.
Tillman lost for the first time in eight decisions on Saturday in New York, as the Yankees battered him around a bit to the tune of five runs and 10 hits in 5 1/3 innings, dropping him to 10-3 on the year to go along with a 3.92 ERA.
In 191 2/3 innings since the beginning of 2012, Tillman is 19-6 with a 3.47 ERA.
Tillman beat the Blue Jays back on May 24 and is 2-2 in seven starts against them with a 4.07 ERA.
Baltimore enters this series on a bit of a roll after winning the final two games in their four-game series with the Texas Rangers. On Thursday, Chris Davis and Brian Roberts each cracked solo homers and Miguel Gonzalez spun 6 2/3 strong innings to guide the Orioles to a 3-1 win.
Gonzalez (7-3) scattered four hits and two walks to pick up his first win since June 27.
Nate McLouth added an RBI single and Matt Wieters had two hits and scored a run for the Orioles, who had lost the first two games of that set and have won just three of their last eight games.
Still, the O's are six games in front of Toronto, who occupy the cellar in the American League East. The Blue Jays have lost 11 of their last 17 games since an 11-game winning streak that had seemingly gotten them on track.
The Blue Jays most recently dropped two of three to the Cleveland Indians, including a 4-2 loss in Thursday's rubber match.
"We're right on that edge," Toronto manager John Gibbons said. "We have to start winning some games. We have three more before the break, but Baltimore has a pretty darn good team, too, and it's in their home park."
Trying to reverse their fortunes on Friday, Toronto turns to lefty Mark Buehrle, who has won three of his last four decisions and is coming off one of his better efforts of the season. Buehrle held the Minnesota Twins scoreless through seven innings last Friday and improved to 5-5 with a 4.50 ERA.
"We can lose 10 in a row or win 10 in a row. I'm going out there trying to win," Buehrle said after that outing. "When the bullpen is used a lot, I try to go in there deep in the game. I try to win every game no matter the situation."
Buehrle has faced the Orioles 18 times (16 starts) and is 7-5 with a 2.83 ERA against them. The ERA is his lowest against any team he's thrown at least 50 innings against.
Toronto has won its last four versus the O's and is 6-4 on the season against them.
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