Blue Jays Top Orioles, David Price Wins 100th Game; Jake Arrieta Notches 18th Win as Cubs Stump D'Backs, 2-0

Players of the Day for Saturday, September 5, 2015

American League

Arrieta: 18-6 Leads MLB

Price: 100th Career Win

Combined with the Yankees 3-2 loss to Tampa Bay, Toronto's 5-1 win over the Orioles allowed the Blue Jays a bit of breathing room atop the AL East, opening a 1 1/2 game lead over New York.

David Price was on the mound for the Blue Jays and he had his good stuff, allowing just two hits, two walks, and no runs until the seventh inning, when he issued free passes to two batters before Caleb Joseph's single drove in Chris Davis from second with the only run for the Orioles.

Price finished up the seventh without further damage with a pair of strikeouts, giving him eight on the day, and did not return for the next inning, but Aaron Sanchez and Brett Cecil pitched the eighth and ninth respectively, Price getting his fifth win as a Blue Jay and upping his record to 14-5 overall. The win was also his 100th in the majors, against 56 losses.

Price is tied for fourth in wins in the AL, is third in ERA, at 2.43, and his 196 strikeouts are fourth-best in the league.

The series tied 1-1, the Blue Jays host Baltimore in the rubber game at 1:07 pm EDT Sunday.

AL NOTE: Boston's David Ortiz socked his 30th home run of the season, bringing his career total to 496. It's also the ninth time Ortiz has hit 30 or more homers in a season. With the Red Sox out of the playoff hunt, Big Papi can be swinging for the fences the rest of the season and could hit the magic 500 mark before turning 40 in November.

National League

Looking better and better as a wild card, the Chicago Cubs notched another win thanks to the golden arm of their ace, Jake Arrieta, who shut out the Diamondbacks over eight innings in the 2-0 Cubs' victory.

Arrieta allowed just four hits, fanning eight without allowing any walks, stretching his streak of not allowing an earned run to 29 innings, including last week's no-hitter against the Dodgers. The Giants scored an unearned run off Arrieta in the sixth inning of Chicago's 8-5 win on August 25.

Since being roughed up in May with a 1-3 mark, Arrieta has been nothing short of brilliant, gong 3-1 in June, 4-1 in July, 6-0 in August, and 1-0 thus far this month.

Arrieta leads the majors in wins, at 18-6, with an ERA of 2.03, second-bast in the league behind Zack Greinke's amazing 1.59. His 197 strikeouts are fourth in the NL.

Chicago will be seeking the sweep of their series with the Diamondbacks Sunday at 2:20 pm EDT.