Orioles finish off Blue Jays, Berríos with 5-3 win; Gibson goes 8; Big nights from Mullins, Santander

BALTIMORE—Since 2017, first with the Minnesota Twins and then with the Toronto Blue Jays, right-hander José Berríos has had his way with the Orioles, winning 10 consecutive decisions.

That streak ended on Thursday night when the Orioles scored five runs against Berríos in six innings on their way to a 5-3 win over Toronto before an announced crowd of 19,432 at Camden Yards.

The Orioles (79-48) are 31 games over .500 for the first time since September 25^th, 2014 and continue to lead the Tampa Bay Rays by two games in the American League East. Tampa Bay beat Colorado, 5-3.

They also continued their excellent play against the American League East. The Orioles finished 10-3 in their season series against Toronto and are 26-14 in their division. They’ve concluded play against the Blue Jays and Yankees and have seven games remaining against Boston and four against Tampa Bay. It’s their first season series win over the Blue Jays since 2017.

“We’re a lot better team than we were in the past,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “We’re a lot more talented. We have better pitching. We have Félix Bautista at the end and some really, really good young players. We’re able to pitch to them a lot better than we did in the past.”

Kyle Gibson (13-7) allowed three runs on six hits in eight innings, the longest by an Orioles starter this season.

“That’s his best start of the year,” Hyde said. “So fortunate that we’re able to have that veteran presence, and he was outstanding tonight.”

The 13 wins equals his career high set in 2014 and 2019. Gibson walked one and struck out eight.

“Wins are a product of a really good offense and defense picking you up a lot and getting deep into the game,” Gibson said.

Gibson and Berríos retired the first nine batters in order. In the top of the fourth, Gibson loaded the bases, and Whit Merrifield scored when Gunnar Henderson made a nice play on Vladimir Guerrero’s grounder in the hole at shortstop and threw to second for a force. George Springer’s sacrifice fly to center scored Bo Bichette for a 2-0 Toronto lead.

Adley Rutschman led off the fourth with a single, and Anthony Santander hit his third home run in two games, his 24^th of the season, to tie the score at 2. It landed on Eutaw Street, his ninth, the second most in ballpark history behind Chris Davis’ 11.

Cedric Mullins’ 11^th homer, a two-run shot, and Henderson’s RBI single put the Orioles ahead, 5-2, in the fifth. Mullins was just 5-for-21 against Berríos entering the game.

“We were able to come through today, put out some really good swings against him,” Mullins said. “It feels good to take the series every single time, no matter who we face, continuing to move on from there.”

Mullins made an excellent throw in the seventh inning to catch Danny Jansen at third base trying to stretch a double. “That’s Cedric Mullins’ best throw of his career,” Hyde said.

Berríos (9-9) allowed five runs on nine hits in six innings.

Brandon Belt’s 15^th home run in the sixth cut the lead to 5-3.

Bautista retired Toronto in order in the ninth for his 33^rd save.

The Orioles have gone 11 series without losing one to an AL East team, equaling a stretch from August 1^st-September 30^th, 2012.

“Lose a tough first game, that didn’t feel good,” Hyde said. “To win a series the way we did with Kyle totally stepping up  and us getting some big hits and playing good defense feels really good.”

Notes: Ryan Mountcastle was hitless in four at-bats. His on-base streak ended at 28, longest by an Oriole since a 38-game run by Nick Markakis in 2009. … The game was delayed by inclement weather for 70 minutes. Oriole games have been delayed 17 hours, 6 minutes this season. … Cole Irvin (1-3, 4.66) will face Kyle Freeland (5-13, 5.02) on Friday night as the Orioles begin a three-game series with the Colorado Rockies.

Minor league update: Rightfielder Kyle Stowers hit his 12^th home run in Triple-A Norfolk’s 3-1 loss to Durham. Bruce Zimmermann (3-6) allowed two runs on five hits in three innings.

Centerfielder Jud Fabian drove in four runs, including a three-run home run. Shortstop Max Wagner and leftfielder John Rhodes drove in two in Double-A Bowie’s 12-10 loss to Erie.

Jake Lyons pitched four scoreless innings in relief to earn his second save as High-A Aberdeen beat Hudson Valley, 2-1. Centerfielder Luis Valdez homered.

Centerfielder Matthew Etzel had two RBIs in Single-A Delmarva’s 4-3 loss to Lynchburg.