BALTIMORE — Josh Donaldson hit his fourth homer in two days and Jose Bautista also went deep in support of Marco Estrada, leading the Toronto Blue Jays over the Baltimore Orioles 5-1 on Monday night.

Toronto leads third-place Baltimore by four games in the AL East. The Orioles have lost four out of five and are clinging to the second wild card.

Donaldson hit a solo homer in the fourth to tie it 1-1. The AL MVP had three homers in a 9-6 win over Minnesota on Sunday.

Estrada (8-6) allowed one run and four hits with four strikeouts over seven-plus innings. The Blue Jays have won three of his four starts against the Orioles this year.

J.J. Hardy provided Baltimore’s only run with his eighth homer in the third.

Bautista provided a two-run cushion when he led off the sixth with his 16th homer.

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The Blue Jays added two more runs in the ninth on an RBI single by Justin Smoak and a fielder’s choice by Devon Travis off Tommy Hunter.

TIGERS 4, WHITE SOX 3: Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift Detroit Tigers to a win at home.

Justin Upton also went deep for the Tigers, who pulled within a game of Baltimore for the American League’s second wild card.

Detroit trailed 3-2 after a solo homer in the seventh by Chicago’s Tyler Saladino, but Saltalamacchia’s towering drive to right-center off Nate Jones (5-3) put the Tigers ahead.

INDIANS 1, TWINS 0: Jason Kipnis’ 10th-inning single scored Chris Gimenez and tagged visiting Minnesota with its 11th straight loss.

Kipnis lined a 1-0 pitch from Brandon Kintzler (0-1) with one out to left-center to finally break up the scoreless game.

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Zach McAllister (3-2) worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the 10th, retiring Max Kepler on a fly ball to end the inning.

The losing streak is Minnesota’s longest since Sept. 9-21, 2011.

ASTROS 6, ATHLETICS 0: Jose Altuve homered, Joe Musgrove and three relievers combined on a four-hitter for a win at Houston.

Musgrove (2-2) struck out seven, walked three and allowed three hits over 51/3 innings, and then Luke Gregerson, Pat Neshek and Brad Peacock closed things out. Musgrove had allowed 13 runs over his last two starts.

Houston closed within two games of the second AL wild card with the win and Baltimore’s loss.

ROYALS 8, YANKEES 5: Dillon Gee kept the Royals’ momentum going with six sharp innings and Alcides Escobar hit a three-run homer as Kansas City won the opener of a three-game set.

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Gee (6-7) allowed only four hits and a run in the latest impressive start by the Royals’ staff, helping the reigning World Series champions win for the 18th time in 22 games.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

NATIONALS 4, PHILLIES 0: Tanner Roark (14-7) threw seven impressive innings and Jayson Werth hit a solo homer as Washington won at Philadelphia.

METS 2, MARLINS 1: Yoenis Cespedes homered with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning to give host New York a win in the first game of a pivotal series between National League playoff contenders.

Jose Reyes dashed home to score the tying run in the eighth on a dangerous collision at the plate, and the Mets pulled even with Miami for second place in the NL East.

With its seventh victory in nine games, New York remained 21/2 games behind St. Louis for the league’s second wild card.

CARDINALS 6, BREWERS 5: Stephen Piscotty scored on a throwing error in the ninth inning after Carlos Martinez struck out a career-high 13 in a win at Milwaukee.


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