From start to finish, Blue Jays well-armed in win over Orioles

But that was the only misstep in this series. The Blue Jays won three of the four games and the relief corps threw 10 1/3 shutout innings in the victories. Its toughest test was in Sunday's 5-2 win over the Orioles, as Patrick Murphy and Tim Mayza got out of jams to preserve a win for starter Ross Stripling.

All the scoring came in the first five innings, but Stripling gave up hits to the first two men he faced in the sixth, leaving Murphy to pick up a first-and-third situation. Murphy, who had four shutout appearances for the Buffalo Bisons this season before joining the Blue Jays, got the job done by striking out Domingo Leyba and getting veteran third baseman Maikel Franco to hit into a double play.

"I love it. I was fired up for Murphy," Stripling said. "To come in first and third, nobody out and to put up a zero there is awesome for him. We're obviously always looking for arms to step up, step up in big situations, leverage situations, and that was a good sign for him."

Murphy, however, found trouble in the seventh with two walks and a single and left the bases loaded and two outs for lefty Tim Mayza. In a tense battle with Baltimore pinch-hitter Trey Mancini, Mayza induced a full-count chopper back to the mound to escape another threat. Anthony Castro and closer Jordan Romano then split the eighth and ninth to retire the final six Orioles without a ball leaving the infield.

Mayza, who pitched for Buffalo in 2017 and 2018 and missed last season after Tommy John surgery, has allowed just one run in 12 June appearances while forging a 0.93 ERA. Romano earned his sixth save.

"That was huge today," catcher Reese McGuire said. "We've been preaching since spring (about closing off games in the late innings) and battled it at times, but a game like today shows that we can close the door."

"We're going to need them to be successful and it was great that they did that job today," added manager Charlie Montoyo. "Mayza is one of my high-leverage guys and I trust him. He's doing great."

Two-run doubles by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the third and Cavan Biggio in the fifth provided the offense. The Blue Jays (40-36) have won seven of eight.

Stripling (3-4), who has a 2.45 ERA in his last seven starts, battled through his five-plus innings on a difficult day to pitch. Although officially listed at 19 mph, the winds were gusting off Lake Erie much stronger than that in the early innings. That doesn't just mean something to hitters.

Stripling's off-speed pitches were a struggle. Trying to throw a curveball in the breeze was difficult because it can get cut short or simply pushed and straightened by the wind. But he said he was cognizant to pitch to the elements, since it was almost impossible to hit a ball out to right field Sunday.

"We've got more experience with this field here, obviously," said a smiling McGuire, another Bisons alum. "Multiple times, their batters are calling time and trying to hopefully let the wind die down. But we were just kind of laughing because it's not going to die down. It's just going to keep going."

"Stay away, try and make them use the big part of the field when it's obviously easy to pull it and have damage," Stripling said. "So you try and make them go into the wind."

Stripling hitched before the first pitch of the game to Ryan McKenna and had to step off the rubber because the wind blew him off balance. When he actually threw it with the wind still howling, the ball was up and in and McKenna had to twist out of the way.

"Right before first pitch. It was like a huge gust and I stopped," he said. "And actually what's funny is I gave the fastball sign. If you paid attention, I was like, 'OK, here we go, fastball.' So now he knows the heater is coming and then I almost threw it to his face. So yeah, kind of an interesting little first pitch there."