Major League Baseball

Gonzalez, Wieters lead Orioles past Blue Jays 3-2

Published Sep. 27, 2013 3:39 a.m. ET

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Miguel Gonzalez spent time on the disabled list in May with a blister, went a month without a victory after the All-Star break and endured a span late this summer in which he earned only three wins in 11 starts.

If the Baltimore Orioles right-hander wants something positive to ponder this winter, he can think back to his final outing of the 2013 season.

Gonzalez pitched seven innings of two-hit ball and Matt Wieters homered as the Orioles beat the Toronto Blue Jays 3-2 on Thursday night.

Gonzalez (11-8) allowed one unearned run, struck out five and walked one. The only hits were a single by Kevin Pillar in the third inning and a double by J.P. Arencibia in the seventh.

''It was great,'' Gonzalez said. ''I was commanding my fastball and my splitty. I threw enough off-speed for strikes for them swing at and we finished strong.''

Gonzalez retired 13 straight batters before Arencibia's double. It was the first game this season in which Gonzalez didn't give up a run.

''That was vintage Miggy,'' said Wieters, who had an excellent view behind the plate. ''When he's on, he's able to mix in his off-speed stuff and locate his fastball. He was able to do that tonight and he actually had a good curveball and good slider to go with his splitty tonight.''

Despite his injury and second-half slump, Gonzalez worked 171 1-3 innings and closed with a 3.78 ERA over 30 games, 28 of them starts.

''I thought it was great,'' he said. ''I had a couple of up and downs, a couple of struggles, but it's a part of baseball.''

Nick Markakis had two hits and an RBI for the Orioles, who won the season series 10-9. Baltimore is 13-5 at Camden Yards against the Blue Jays since the start of the 2012 season.

After Gonzalez left, Tommy Hunter took over in the eighth and yielded two singles before Brett Lawrie snapped an 0-for-18 skid with an RBI double. Hunter then struck out Moises Sierra and Anthony Gose with runners on second and third.

''We had a shot,'' Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. ''If we get a little contact there, they're playing the infield back and that gives us that run. At least we tie it anyway. But that didn't happen.''

Jim Johnson got three outs for his AL-leading 48th save.

Blue Jays starter Mark Buehrle (12-10) left the game with a bruised right calf after being struck by a line drive off the bat of Steve Pearce. Buehrle allowed three runs and eight hits in 3 1-3 innings, his shortest outing since Sept. 4, 2011, against Detroit.

It was Buehrle's 429th consecutive start without going on the disabled list. This injury was not serious, and his next start won't come until 2014.

''Got six months to recover so it doesn't really matter,'' he said. ''It got me in the calf. I told him to at least let me finish off the inning. He said there's no reason, just get me out of there. I'm sure it'll tighten up and feel a little sore, but there's nothing.''

The Blue Jays turned three double plays and Chad Jenkins allowed just one hit in 3 1-3 innings of relief. But it wasn't enough to prevent Toronto from absorbing its sixth loss in nine games.

Toronto got a first-inning run without benefit of a hit. Munenori Kawasaki walked and hustled around the bases to score from first on a dropped fly ball by left fielder Jason Pridie.

Wieters tied it in the second, hitting a curveball into the seats in left field for his 22nd home run.

In the Baltimore third, Brian Roberts singled and scored on a double by Markakis, who moved up on an infield hit and came home on a fly ball by Wieters.

NOTES: Major league home run leader Chris Davis was ill and given the night off by Orioles manager Buck Showalter. ... The Blue Jays played without 1B Adam Lind, whose ''back locked up on him'' Wednesday night, according to Gibbons. Lind was replaced at 1B by Ryan Langerhans, whose contract was purchased from Triple-A Buffalo before the game. Toronto moved LHP Brett Cecil (elbow) to the 60-day DL. ... Baltimore will be without OF Chris Dickerson (right hamstring) and 2B Alexi Casilla (thumb) for the rest of the season. ... The Blue Jays close out the season with a home series against the Tampa Bay Rays, and Baltimore will host the Boston Red Sox for a three-game set. The Orioles plan to start Scott Feldman, Wei-Yin Chen and Chris Tillman. ... Buehrle is 2-8 against the AL East and 10-2 against everyone else.

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