Zimmermann (8-2) allowed two runs and six hits with no walks over seven innings — actually raising his ERA to 1.71 — on an unseasonably chilly and windy night in the nation’s capital. There was at least a bit of heat from the Nationals’ bats, which have been going through such a cold spell that manager Davey Johnson said before the game he wouldn’t shave again until his lineup started hitting.

As it turned out, the Nationals scored their most runs in a week, and they got four or more in the same inning for the first time in almost a month.

Phillies starter Kyle Kendrick (4-3) had his shortest outing of the season.

REDS 7, CUBS 4

CINCINNATI (AP) — Joey Votto extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a homer, and Ryan Hanigan and Brandon Phillips also homered, powering the Reds to their fourth straight win.

The Reds have won 12 of their past 15 games, surging to a season-high 12 games over .500. They’ve dominated the Cubs, winning 15 of their past 17 in the series.

Chicago is last in the NL Central, having lost a season-high five straight. The Cubs (18-29) slid a season-low 11 games under .500.

Votto and Hanigan homered in the fourth inning off Scott Feldman (4-4). Phillips connected off Hector Rondon in the eighth.

Bronson Arroyo (5-4) gave up three runs in six innings, including Feldman’s first career homer.

BREWERS 2, PIRATES 1

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Marco Estrada gave up one run over seven innings and Alex Gonzalez had a two-run double, leading the Milwaukee Brewers to a victory over the Pirates.

Estrada (4-2) retired the first 14 Pittsburgh batters he faced before a two-out bloop single to left field by Neil Walker in the fifth inning gave the Pirates their first base runner.

Estrada struck out eight and didn’t walk a batter. He fanned eight of 12 Pittsburgh batters at one point and improved his career record to 5-0 against the Pirates, including eight starts.

Four Brewers relievers combined to record the final six outs. Francisco Rodriguez retired the final batter to record his first save of the season and 295th of his career.

METS 5, BRAVES 5, Suspended

NEW YORK (AP) — Evan Gattis had a two-run, pinch-hit single in the top of the eighth, then the Mets rallied to tie it in a downpour in the bottom half before the Atlanta Braves and New York were suspended by rain with the score 5-5 Friday night.

The teams will resume play with none out in the top of the ninth inning on Saturday at 6:10 p.m. The regularly scheduled game is set to start 7:15 p.m.

With rain starting to fall heavily, Gattis put Atlanta up 5-3 with a bases-loaded single off Greg Burke. The Mets tied it in a wet and wild bottom half, taking advantage of centre fielder B.J. Upton’s error on Daniel Murphy’s RBI single and scoring on a wild pitch by Anthony Varvaro.

The game was suspended after a 75-minute delay.

ROCKIES 5, GIANTS 0

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Michael Cuddyer homered and hit a two-run double after coming off the disabled list, Tyler Chatwood beat San Francisco for the second time in seven days and the Rockies blanked the Giants.

Carlos Gonzalez also hit a solo homer and D.J. LeMahieu added an RBI single as the Rockies beat two-time NL Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum (3-4) for the second time in a week.

The Rockies, swept in a three-game series at AT&T Park last month, won their fourth in a row in the rivalry for the first time since 2006.

Chatwood (3-0) allowed four hits in six scoreless innings.

DIAMONDBACKS 5, PADRES 2

PHOENIX (AP) — Brandon McCarthy pitched seven effective innings for his second straight win and Paul Goldschmidt hit a two-run double to cap Arizona’s five-run seventh inning, lifting the Diamondbacks to a victory over the Padres.

Arizona managed two hits over the first six innings against Eric Stults (4-4) before breaking it open in the seventh.

Martin Prado had a run-scoring double, pinch-hitter Wil Nieves followed with another and A.J. Pollock added an RBI single for his third hit. Goldschmidt capped it with a double off Anthony Bass to put Arizona up 5-1.

McCarthy (2-3) allowed a run and five hits and Heath Bell worked around two runners in the ninth for his seven save.

Everth Cabrera led off the eighth inning with a homer off David Hernandez for the Padres, who have lost three straight.

CARDINALS 7, DODGERS 0

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lance Lynn pitched two-hit ball over six innings, and David Freese and Allen Craig each homered and drove in three runs, helping the Cardinals beat the Dodgers for their third win in a row.

The last-place Dodgers’ fifth loss in seven games came a few hours after team president Stan Kasten said manager Don Mattingly was not in immediate danger of being fired.

Lynn (7-1) struck out nine and walked one for the NL Central leaders. The only hits he gave up were a single to Carl Crawford to open the game and a double to Juan Uribe in the third.

Chris Capuano (1-3) allowed six runs — five earned — and six hits in five-plus innings. The left-hander struck out four and walked three.

“I didn’t do anything. I didn’t say one word to him. Not one,” Lawrie told reporters later. “Didn’t look at him one time. And I’m trouble for that.”

Lawrie did dump his helmet on the ground and walk away tossing his batting gloves behind him.

And that was enough to trigger the ejection from home plate umpire Bellino, apparently.

“It was a called strike three, he threw down his helmet and his bat, and was given an equipment fine by the home plate umpire,” crew chief Wally Bell told a pool reporter after the game. “As he walked away, in (Bellino’s) opinion, he flipped the gloves back in a bad manner and that will get an ejection. That’s what it was. He threw them back toward Danny in a way that wasn’t etiquette in baseball and he was ejected for it.”

Manager John Gibbons came out to protest and was also tossed.

“More or less protecting his player, then he started talking about balls and strikes and was ejected,” Bell said.

It was Gibbons’ third ejection of the season and first for Lawrie, upping Toronto’s total to six.

Lawrie said he threw his gloves behind him “so that the bat boy could come pick up my stuff and take it to the dugout.”

“Apparently he (Bellino) took it the wrong way and decided to throw me out,” Lawrie said.

The volatile Lawrie was suspended for four games last season when, after striking out, he slammed his helmet into the ground and it hit the umpire.

He said he did not think that such past actions had any impact on Friday night’s incident.

“Today’s a new day,” he said.

“Next time he’s got to throw his gloves in the other direction, I guess,” said Gibbons.

He had plenty of reason to celebrate.

The Eastern Conference finals are tied, and home-court advantage now belongs to West and the Indiana Pacers.

Roy Hibbert scored a post-season career-high 29 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, West broke up two passes by James for huge turnovers, and the Pacers evened the East title series at a game apiece with a 97-93 victory over the Miami Heat in Game 2 on Friday night.

“We haven’t done anything yet,” Hibbert said. “We haven’t closed the series out. We won one game. A lot of us feel we should be up 2-0.”

Paul George scored 22 points, George Hill added 18 and West finished with 13 for the Pacers, who handed the Heat just their fourth loss in their last 50 games, closed the game on a 13-5 run — and denied one of the game’s best playmakers in James twice in the final moments to finish it off.

“There’s only like one person that’s more scarier than that,” Hill said, speaking of James. “And that’s, you know, God.”

The series resumes with Game 3 on Sunday night in Indianapolis.

“It’s one of the best basketball games I’ve ever been a part of,” Pacers coach Frank Vogel said. “It wasn’t about LeBron making mistakes down the stretch. He played one of the best basketball games I’ve ever seen anybody play. We were just able to make a couple plays late in the game.”

More specifically, West made a couple plays late in the game.

“These are two close, competitive games that can go either way,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We had our opportunities. Enough opportunities.”

With Indiana up 95-93, West intercepted a pass that James was throwing to Ray Allen with 43 seconds left. Indiana didn’t cash in that mistake, instead turning the ball over with a shot-clock violation.

So on the next Miami trip, West denied James — who led all scorers with 36 points — again.

James drove to the right block, spun and tried passing out toward the perimeter. West got his right hand on that pass, knocking it off-course and into the hands of Hill, then extended his hand skyward.

The Pacers — just as they did in the second-round series last year — knew they were winning Game 2 in Miami. Hill made two free throws with 8.3 seconds left to clinch it, and just like that, the series was tied.

Game 1, Miami won it with James coming through at the end.

Game 2, the Pacers simply took away the MVP’s opportunity.

“We’ve been able to maintain our composure throughout the year,” West said. “That’s helped us throughout these playoffs and especially in environments like these.”

The Heat got 17 points from Chris Bosh and 14 from Dwyane Wade. The Heat led 88-84 in the fourth quarter, only to let the lead, the game and the home-court edge slip away, and James had almost an expressionless look afterward.

“Nothing broke down,” Wade said. “He’s going to be hard on himself. He saw guys open, but West was able to get his arms out there at the last moment.”

Lance Stephenson scored 10 for the Pacers.

The Heat trailed for virtually all of the game’s first 30 minutes, then tied the game three times in the third quarter — but Indiana always had a response. When the game was tied at 60, the Pacers scored seven of the next 10 points. Tied at 67, George quickly had a layup to put the Pacers back on top. Tied at 69, George struck again, this time with a jumper.

With 5.1 seconds left in the third, George drove the lane and finished a highlight-reel dunk over Miami’s Chris Andersen while getting fouled, the free throw putting the Pacers up by five. James connected on a long 3-pointer to close the quarter, then he and George exchanged a few words afterward and slapped each other’s hand as if to say, “here we go.”

Sure enough, the show was just getting started.

“We had our chance tonight,” Bosh said.

Hibbert was creating one problem after another for Miami, so James took it upon himself to challenge him in the fourth. And with about 8 minutes left, he swatted a putback attempt away from the 7-foot-2 Indiana centre, starting a play that ended with Chalmers scoring at the other end to give Miami an 85-84 lead.

On the next possession, James tied up a rebound with Hibbert, then won the ensuing jump ball. Not long afterward, Bosh made a 3-pointer and Miami’s lead was up to 88-84 — its biggest of the night.

“We just didn’t finish the game like we’re capable of,” Spoelstra said.

Indiana scored the next five points to reclaim the lead. James’ three-point play with 3:32 left put the Heat on top 91-89, and Hibbert answered that with a jump hook over the reigning MVP to tie the game for the 10th time.

Frantic to the finish, again. And this time it went Indiana’s way.

“Heck of a basketball game, wasn’t it?” Vogel asked afterward.

If there was any remaining lament from losing Game 1 on the final play of overtime, the Pacers didn’t show it. They trailed for all of 15 seconds in the first half, and after neither team held a lead of more than seven in the series opener, Indiana found itself leading by 10 late in the first quarter and by 13 with a minute to go before intermission.

Hibbert was either unguarded or unguardable, making six of his eight shots in the first two quarters and getting to the line on the way to a 19-point half. West, Hill and George combined for 27 more before the break, and when Hibbert scored with 1:25 left the Pacers’ lead was 53-40.

The Heat needed less than a minute to erase more than half of that deficit.

James made a pair of free throws with 59.1 seconds left, Chalmers had a layup and Mike Miller — who hadn’t taken a shot since May 8, but checked in with 3:23 remaining in the half after Allen and Shane Battier continued to struggle from the outside — connected on a 3-pointer as time expired, pulling Miami within 53-47 at the break.

And when Indiana went up nine early in the third quarter, Miami responded with another burst, this time an 11-2 run highlighted by a spectacular reverse dunk by James and capped by two baskets from Wade, the last of which knotted the game at 60-all.

By then, it was clear.

Just like Game 1, this one wouldn’t be decided until the end.

NOTES: South Florida resident Jozy Altidore of the U.S. men’s national soccer team was among those in attendance, two days before he’s set to report to Cleveland and begin training camp for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers. Other celebs in the crowd included newly retired football star and Miami Hurricanes great Ray Lewis, Baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. and Rosie O’Donnell. … The Pacers were called for four technicals (one a defensive 3-second) in a 4-minute span of the second quarter. … Indiana reserve Sam Young sprained his left ankle in the third quarter. … Indiana was not planning to fly home after the game, instead staying in Miami one more night and avoiding getting back to Indianapolis around 4 a.m. or even later.

Sanchez fell two outs shy of his second career no-hitter, but thanks to Mauer it was just another near miss this season. There have already been five one-hitters this year, according to STATS.

It was Sanchez’s second gem in about a month — he set a franchise record with 17 strikeouts in eight marvelous innings against Atlanta on April 26.

Sanchez (5-4) struck out 12 on Friday and allowed three walks.

The home crowd gave him a standing ovation when he came out to start the ninth, and he immediately struck out Jamey Carroll. Mauer, followed with a clean line drive up the middle — to almost the same spot where Pittsburgh’s Josh Harrison’s hit landed last year when he broke up a no-hit bid by Detroit’s Justin Verlander, also with two outs to go.

Minnesota’s Samuel Deduno (0-1) allowed six runs and nine hits in 5 1-3 innings.

RED SOX 8, INDIANS 1

BOSTON (AP) — John Lackey allowed two hits in seven innings and Mike Carp hit a three-run homer.

It was the second straight strong performance by Lackey, who missed all last season following Tommy John elbow surgery. Last Sunday he gave up one hit and one unearned run in six innings of a 5-1 win at Minnesota. He left that game after a three-hour rain delay.

After a 44-minute delay before Friday’s game, Lackey (3-4) struck out eight, walked three and gave up an unearned run while pitching through a steady rain. He allowed only two of the 25 batters he faced to hit the ball out of the infield.

Lackey finished his night by striking out Jason Giambi and Mark Reynolds to end the seventh. As he walked toward the dugout, fans chanted, “Lackey! Lackey!”

ORIOLES 10, BLUE JAYS 6

TORONTO (AP) — Chris Davis hit his major league-leading 16th home run and Nick Markakis had three hits and three RBIs.

J.J. Hardy, Danny Valencia and Adam Jones all went deep as the Orioles matched a season high in runs and set a season high with four home runs. Baltimore has hit an ML-best 66 homers this season.

Melky Cabrera, Brett Lawrie and Adam Lind all hit solo homers for the Blue Jays.

Chris Tillman (4-2) allowed three runs and a season-high 10 hits in five innings to win for the fourth time in six starts. He walked none and matched a season high with seven strikeouts.

Brian Matusz got two outs in the sixth, Tommy Hunter pitched 2 1-3 innings and Darren O’Day finished in the ninth.

Blue Jays left-hander Sean Nolin had his his first loss since Aug. 27, 2011, when he was pitching for Class A Lansing. It was his major league debut.

YANKEES 9, RAYS 4

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Brett Gardner, Lyle Overbay and Jayson Nix each drove in two runs.

Gardner made it 5-0 with a two-run homer off Roberto Hernandez (2-5) during the fourth. The Yankees took a 3-0 lead in the second on Overbay’s two-run double and an RBI single by Nix.

David Phelps (3-2), who retired his first 13 batters before James Loney hit a one-out double in the fifth, allowed four runs and six hits in 7 2-3 innings. He left in the eighth after it appeared he was hit on the right arm by a drive up the middle by Ben Zobrist.

New York right fielder Curtis Granderson broke the knuckle of his left pinkie finger after getting hit by Cesar Ramos’ pitch in the fifth.

RANGERS 9, MARINERS 5

SEATTLE (AP) — Jeff Baker hit a two-run homer and Lance Berkman added a three-run shot, both off Seattle starter Joe Saunders.

Baker’s shot in the second inning gave the Rangers the lead, but it was Berkman’s fourth homer of the season into the left-field seats that broke the game open in the third and sent Saunders to his first career loss at Safeco Field. It was the first homer for Baker since May 10 and first for Berkman since May 11.

Saunders (3-5) entered the night 9-0 at Safeco Field, including a 3-0 mark with a 0.94 ERA this season. But Saunders gave up six earned runs and eight hits in just five innings and the Mariners lost their seventh straight.

Texas starter Justin Grimm (4-3) overcame a rough first few innings to pitch into the seventh despite giving up 10 hits. Grimm avoided a big inning, didn’t walk a batter and struck out five in beating the Mariners for the second time this season.

ATHLETICS 6, ASTROS 5

HOUSTON (AP) — Chris Young connected on a three-run homer in the ninth inning.

Young, who grew up in Houston, is hitting just .189 this season. But he’s a career .418 hitter at Minute Maid Park with seven home runs and 27 RBIs in 19 games in his hometown.

The A’s trailed 5-3 before closer Jose Veras (0-3) walked two of the first three batters of the inning to set the table for Young. He turned on a curveball to put Oakland up 6-5. Young stood at the plate for a couple of seconds admiring the towering shot before heading to first base.

Seth Smith had a solo pinch-hit homer for Oakland in the sixth inning.

Pat Neshek (1-0) pitched a scoreless eighth for the win and Grant Balfour walked two in the ninth before getting his 10th save. He has converted 28 straight save opportunities since last season.

ANGELS 5, ROYALS 2

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Mike Trout had his 21st multi-hit game and Jason Vargas pitched into the eighth inning.

Trout had two hits, stole his 11th base and scored two runs, including one on a wild pitch. He is hitting .366 in May.

Vargas (4-3) allowed two runs and five hits over 7 1-3 innings to win is fourth straight decision in five May starts. He is 12-4 in May since the start of the 2009 season.

Luke Hochevar (0-1), who replaced Mendoza, could not keep the 2-1 lead for long. Chris Iannetta homered for the second straight night to tie it 2-2 before the Angels broke it open in the seventh.

INTERLEAGUE

WHITE SOX 4, MARLINS 3, 11 innings

CHICAGO (AP) — Jeff Keppinger drove in the winning run on a single in the 11th and John Danks was solid in his season debut and the Chicago White Sox beat the Miami Marlins 4-3 on Friday night.

Paul Konerko started the rally with a one-out single. Pinch runner Tyler Greene moved to third when Dayan Viciedo singled off the glove of second baseman Derek Dietrich.

After Ryan Webb (1-2) intentionally walked Conor Gillaspie, Keppinger singled to left field.

Nate Jones (1-4) pitched two-thirds of an inning for the win.

Danks allowed three runs and four hits in six innings in his first start since undergoing shoulder surgery in August to repair a capsule tear and remove debris in his rotator cuff and biceps. He struck out five, walked none and hit a batter in the opener of the interleague series.

Ty Rattie scored the winner in the third period and Mac Carruth made 34 saves Friday as the Portland Winterhawks survived a furious comeback attempt to defeat London 2-1.

Winterhawks defenceman Seth Jones said the final moments were tense as London, which fought back from a 3-1 series deficit in the Ontario Hockey League final and scored the series clincher with less than a second to go in Game 7, crashed the Portland net looking for the equalizer.

“My heart was beating 1,000 beats a minute and I was out there doing whatever I could to keep the puck out of the net — sliding around everywhere,” said a relieved Jones. “It was definitely a big win for us tonight. We fought hard (but) it was a little closer than I wanted.”

Tyler Wotherspoon also scored and Nicolas Petan added two assists for the Winterhawks, who will take on the Halifax Mooseheads in Sunday’s final that will determine the Canadian Hockey League champion.

Max Domi had the goal for the Knights, while Jake Patterson made 32 stops for London, which defeated the host Saskatoon Blades 6-1 in Thursday’s tiebreaker game.

Rattie had a chance to ice the game into an empty net for the Western Hockey League title holders, but couldn’t find the target as Portland had to sweat out the final minute in their zone with Patterson on the bench for an extra attacker.

“It’s pretty exciting,” Winterhawks coach Travis Green said. “It was a tough game tonight. I thought London played extremely well, especially after playing four games in five nights. Very impressive team that we beat tonight. It was a hard-fought game.”

Knights defenceman Scott Harrington said that although his team can be proud of its effort, the sting of the loss will linger.

“It’s tough. Obviously not the result that we wanted. I thought we had some real good chances and bounces just didn’t go our way — a couple broken sticks on great opportunities to score,” the London captain said. “To lose 2-1, it’s heartbreaking, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.”

Portland’s victory now sets up a dream final involving Jones, the No. 1 ranked North American skater ahead of next month’s NHL draft, and Mooseheads forwards Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin, who are second and third on the list. The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League champions beat Portland 7-4 during round robin play.

Rattie broke Friday’s 1-1 tie at 8:32 of the third period, circling in the London zone before rifling his tournament-leading fifth goal upstairs on Patterson from the slot.

“He’s a big game player. He does all the little things right and he’s always in the right position,” Carruth said of Rattie. “He sneaks into little quiet areas and finds a way to score. He’s got a great shot.”

The Knights dug deep and had a couple chances late but couldn’t find a way past Carruth.

“He was great tonight,” Green said of his goaltender. “I thought it was his best game of the tournament. Just a great performance by a guy that we’ve leaned on for a long time now. It doesn’t surprise us, but he came up big.”

Knights’ forward Ryan Rupert couldn’t connect on a puck loose in front with just over seven minutes to go before Alex Broadhurt was also denied from in tight. Bo Horvat then came closest in the final minute as London suffered a disappointing end to the tournament for the second straight year after losing the 2012 final to the Shawinigan Cataractes 2-1 in overtime.

“There’s no quit in that room and we knew that we had the potential to win this tournament if we played well. I thought we gave ourselves a good chance,” Harrington said. “It doesn’t make it any easier to swallow but I think we can hold our heads high knowing that we left it all on the ice.”

Added Knights coach Dale Hunter: “The character always comes out at the end and I can’t say enough about the players. They give it right to the end. We’ve seen it so many times this year.”

After a sleepy and scoreless first period, things started to open up a bit in the second. Domi gave London a 1-0 lead on the game’s first power play, wheeling off the sideboards and firing a quick shot past Carruth at 12:43.

Patterson, who robbed Petan and fellow Portland forward Oliver Bjorkstrand earlier in the period, could do nothing on the equalizer as Wotherspoon’s shot from the point found its way in through a screen just 2:08 later.

The London goalie then made a big save on Rattie with 3:20 remaining to keep the score tied as momentum started to shift decidedly in Portland’s favour.

The Winterhawks’ attention now turns to the star-studded and rested Mooseheads, who haven’t played since Tuesday.

“We know we’re going to have our hands full, but I also know that with our team that when we play our best we’re tough to beat,” Green said. “I’ve got a lot of faith in our guys.”

Notes: The Knights are the host team for next year’s tournament. … Country music singer Paul Brandt sang the national anthems. … Attendance at the Credit Union Centre was 9,161.

Nolin managed just four outs before exiting with Baltimore leading 6-1. The Orioles went on win 10-6 in a free-swinging game Friday night that saw the teams combine for 33 hits and seven home runs.

It was more like a video game than a major league contest with the announced Rogers Centre crowd of 25,104 seeing a ton of offence and not much pitching. It was 9-3 midway through the third and every Baltimore starter had scored by the end of the sixth.

For Nolin (0-1), it was a brief misadventure in the majors. He retired just three of the 11 batters he faced — he was helped by a double play — for an earned-run average of 40.50.

Informed Thursday at noon that he would be pitching, Nolin was optioned back to New Hampshire within minutes of the final out.

“It was a tough go for him, no question,” said Toronto manager John Gibbons. “But you know what … (I told him) I don’t want you leaving with any negative feelings. You’ll be back. Some day you’ll look back and laugh at this, because you’re better than that.

“You never know how debuts are going to go. That’s just the way the game is sometimes at this level. So go down there and continue to work. Work your way back up. You know what, you have a bright future.”

Even Tony Robbins might have a hard time seeing the positives.

“Definitely not the way I envisioned it but I think I just had too much energy going,” said the soft-spoken Nolin, who left the Rogers Centre holding onto the lineup card as a souvenir. “It kind of felt like I had already thrown a few innings and kind of wasted some gas without doing anything.”

Still, he said he had chills as he achieved a dream to pitch in the majors.

Nolin opened with a strike, only to give up back-to-back singles followed by J.J. Hardy’s ninth home run of the season. Nolin gave up another single before escaping the inning when Matt Wieters hit into a double play. The young Jay threw 21 pitches including 16 strikes in the inning.

In the second, he loaded the bases on a double, single and walk to the bottom third of the Baltimore order before Nick Markakis cleared the bases with a double for a 6-1 lead. Nolin got one more out before Gibbons mercifully brought in Ramon Ortiz.

Nolin gave up six earned runs on seven hits and one walk. He threw 35 pitches, 25 for strikes. Sadly the strikes did not seem to help.

He tied the shortest outing by a Blue Jays pitcher making his major-league debut as a starter (Mike Darr, 1977, and Jeff Ware, 1995). The six earned runs also tied the club record for most by a starting pitcher in his debut (Ware).

And while Nolin was only involved in 1 1-3 innings, the game marked the first time in franchise history that Toronto had allowed the first three batters of an inning to each score a run in three consecutive innings.

Chris Davis hit his majors-leading 16th homer of the season for the Orioles — his third home run in as many outings and fourth in five games. Danny Valencia and Adam Jones also homered for Baltimore (26-22).

Orioles third baseman Manny Machado had three hits for the fifth straight road game. According to Elias, the only other player younger than 21 — Machado is 20 — with such a streak was Ty Cobb who did it 1907.

Melky Cabrera, Adam Lind and Brett Lawrie — who was later ejected with Gibbons — hit solo home runs for Toronto (20-28) as the teams combined for five leadoff homers.

The Jays did everything but place a chocolate on the Orioles’ pillows. In addition to conceding 16 hits, they recorded an error, wild pitch, had two ejected and were caught stealing.

It’s been a high-scoring start to the four-game series. Toronto won the opener 12-6 on Thursday in a game that produced 23 hits.

Desperate for someone to fill a hole in their injury-plagued starting rotation, the Jays hung their hat on a neophyte who had never appeared above double-A ball and were quickly punished for it.

Ortiz, 39, wasn’t much better as the Orioles battered Blue Jays pitching for nine runs and 10 hits in the first three innings. Orioles leadoff hitter Markakis collected two singles and a double in those three innings.

Adding to Toronto’s woes, Lawrie and Gibbons were ejected after the Jays third baseman was called out on strikes to end the third. Lawrie had dumped his helmet at home plate and then walked off, tossing his batting gloves behind him, after being punched out. He also appeared to have said something to plate umpire Dan Bellino during the at-bat.

Gibbons came to his defence and was also tossed.

“The umps these days in @mlb can suck it,” tweeted Lawrie’s sister Danielle, a former Canadian Olympic softball player.

“To everyone out there, I’m not saying what my brother did was RIGHT at all, I’m saying these umps are horrific and are not held accountable,” she said in a later tweet.

It was Gibbons’ third ejection of the season and first for Lawrie, upping Toronto’s total to six.

Lawrie said he had done nothing wrong. But crew chief Wally Bell told a pool reporter that Lawrie was tossed for throwing his gloves towards Bellino “in a way that wasn’t etiquette in baseball.”

The volatile Lawrie was suspended for four games last season when, after striking out, he slammed his helmet into the ground and it hit the umpire.

Orioles starter Chris Tillman (4-2) also had his issues as he struggled with his control early. But he was able to limit the damage in lasting five innings, giving up three earned runs on 10 hits. He struck out seven, walked none and threw 109 pitches, including 74 strikes.

Nolin was the Jays’ 10th starter of the season, with just three starts for double-A New Hampshire under his belt this season. He was 2-0 with a 1.17 ERA and 16 strikeouts in three starts for the Fisher Cats in a season disrupted by a groin strain suffered in spring training.

Toronto took the six-foot-five, 235-pound native of Seaford, N.Y., in the sixth round of the 2010 draft. Prior to that he was drafted by Milwaukee in the 50th round in 2008 and the 48th round by Seattle in 2011.

James Neal scored a hat trick as the Penguins advanced to the Eastern Conference final for the third time in six seasons by closing out the Senators 6-2 in Game 5 on Friday night.

Just as Ottawa’s franchise icon Daniel Alfredsson foresaw following a 7-3 Penguins rout in Game 4, the Senators weren’t good enough to rally from a 3-1 deficit for the first time in six attempts in franchise history. After winning Game 3 on home ice with a comeback that started in the final minute of regulation, they were outscored 13-5 in two runaway Penguins victories.

“They were better than us in each and every game and I was just trying to put the pressure on them,” said Alfredsson, who acknowledged after Pittsburgh’s 7-3 win in Game 4 it would be extremely difficult for the Senators to rally. “I still believe that we could do it, if we win one game I think that comment helps us, and that’s where it came from.”

The 40-year-old Alfredsson, an Ottawa fixture since 1995, said he will decide at some point in the off-season whether he will return for a 17th NHL season.

“It’s really tough with four young kids at home,” Alfredsson said. “That’s kind of where I struggle personally. I’ll talk to (the Senators) and see what they think. I think I still can play, I really enjoyed the playoffs and had a lot of fun with it. I’ll take a little bit of time, I don’t want to make a quick decision.”

Coach Paul MacLean said of Alfredsson and defenceman Sergei Gonchar: “My expectations are they will come back until they tell me.”

After beating Montreal the opening round following an injury-filled season in which they surprisingly made the playoffs, the Senators were good enough to win only once in a series decided by Pittsburgh’s offensive execution and a scoring depth that ranges far beyond Crosby and Malkin. Brenden Morrow, Kris Letang and Malkin each added singles for the Penguins on Friday, while Neal’s goals gave him five in the final two games of the series.

“We got to our game a lot. The depth we had showed,” Crosby said. “Different guys chipping in, the whole way through we didn’t have many lulls where we lost momentum at any point.”

The Penguins were aided by the solid goaltending of Tomas Vokoun, who made 29 saves and doesn’t appear willing to give back his job to former Stanley Cup winner Marc-Andre Fleury any time soon.

Pittsburgh, which led the conference during the regular season, will play either the Boston Bruins or New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference finals. Boston leads 3-1 in a series that resumes Saturday night.

“They have a good team and they’re really pushing for it,” Senators defenceman Erik Karlsson said. “Right now, they’re playing the way they want to. The first two games (in Pittsburgh) we weren’t prepared for what they were bringing, they played really well and we definitely didn’t play the way wanted to. … They came out and started stronger the last game (Game 4) and this game as well.”

For the Senators, who generated only goals by Milan Michalek and Kyle Turris, it was yet another disappointing conclusion to a season. They have failed to advance past the conference semifinals since reaching the Stanley Cup final in 2007, but they advanced one round further than they did a season ago.

“A lot of things have to go right for you to get past each round,” goalie Craig Anderson said. “The deeper you go, the harder it gets. The better teams keep advancing and the opponents get tougher and tougher. We have to continue to get better. If you’re not growing you’re dying, and we need to keep growing.”

Much like the series, Game 5 didn’t take long to decide as the Penguins overwhelmed Anderson with waves of scoring attempts — even when Crosby, who had just an assist, and Malkin weren’t on the ice.

“We didn’t respond to start Game 4 and we didn’t respond after losing Game 4,” Turris said.

Malkin did get Pittsburgh’s fourth goal, his fourth of the playoffs, on a short breakaway created by the turnover Neal generated at mid-ice in the final minute of a second period in which Pittsburgh scored three times.

Neal added his second of the game unassisted at 11:07 of the third, and his sixth of the playoffs and third of the game with 2:39 remaining.

“Everything he’s done, especially the last couple games, he’s created a lot of chances for himself,” Crosby said of Neal. “That whole line (Jarome Iginla-Malkin-Neal) has been pretty hard to stop. They’re not fun to play against.”

The Penguins are averaging 4.27 goals a game through 11 playoff games, the best such pace of any team since the 1992-93 Penguins averaged 4.17 goals per game. Pittsburgh has also scored at least four goals in nine of 11 playoff games, only once failing to score fewer than three, a 2-1 overtime loss in Game 3 in Ottawa.

But they recovered from that lone defeat in the series to easily win the final two games, including the Game 4 rout in which MacLean’s post-game news conference lasted only 13 seconds and Alfredsson couldn’t generate much optimism for a series comeback in a quiet dressing room.

“I think we’ve been confident the whole series against Ottawa,” Letang said. “We knew that playing a north-south (fast-paced) series would get us rewarded.”

In Game 5, the Penguins never trailed after Morrow, who missed Wednesday with an undisclosed injury, beat Anderson down low off a pass by Mark Eaton 6:25 into the first. The play was started after longtime Senators antagonist Matt Cooke beat Jared Cowen to the puck and threaded a pass to Eaton.

The goal was reviewed briefly before it was determined Morrow did not use a distinct kicking motion while directing the puck by Anderson.

Neal made it 2-0 on a power play created by Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s interference penalty nearly 7 1/2 minutes into the second, and Letang pushed it to 3-0 with a 4-on-4 goal just over five minutes later.

Tyler Kennedy skated the puck out of his own zone before sending a pass to the left circle to Letang, who cut into the high slot to beat Anderson with a hard wrist shot.

Michalek, reunited on a line with Alfredsson and Jason Spezza, finally got Ottawa on the board late in the second period.

But the Senators didn’t have nearly enough — not in this game and not in the series.

“They (the Penguins) really showed the step you have to take to continue to play in the Stanley Cup playoffs,” MacLean said. “I can tell them it’s going to be hard, it’s going to be hard, it’s going to be harder, but I think we got a solid lesson in terms of what it takes.”

Miller will return to action in the second leg of the Amway Canadian Championship against Montreal after missing about two months with a nagging hamstring injury.

“I’ve probably been good to go for the last 10 days or so,” said Miller after a practice Friday at the University of British Columbia. “It’s been just gradually stepping up, stepping up and, obviously, the last couple days, I’ve been into full training with the lads.”

The striker has not played a game since March 30 when he was injured in training with the team.

It was an untimely loss, because he had scored two goals in three games, and Vancouver has struggled to find offensive consistency since then.

“The initial injury we had, we didn’t think it was going to be too serious,” he said. “But, for one reason or another, it just dragged on and dragged on. … It’s been a frustrating six, seven weeks in terms of watching the lads and wanting to get in there with them.”

The Whitecaps won their first two MLS games of the season with Miller in the line, but have earned just one victory since then while posting a 3-4-4 record in league play.

“I was real happy with the way (the season started), but the injury has curtailed that (excitement) to a certain extent,” said Miller. “So it’s important for me to get back and get back to a level of fitness and match fitness that I was (in) before — and get back to that level as quickly as possible.”

The Whitecaps and Impact will conclude the title series Wednesday at B.C. Place. The clubs played to a scoreless draw in the opening leg of the two-game aggregate series in Montreal.

Coach Martin Rennie is looking forward to getting Miller back after his strong start to the season.

“He was scoring goals, he was creating chances and he was bringing good leadership on the field and off the field,” said Rennie. “So we have missed him. Hopefully, he’ll be back — and stay back — for a long time.”

Miller, a 33-year-old Edinburgh native, was not eager to discuss Scottish media reports that say he is headed back to his former Glasgow Rangers squad by September, if not earlier. He declined to answer questions on the subject after dismissing the reports as just rumours a day earlier.

“Obviously, you can’t control what’s said or written by other parties,” said Miller. “But for me, I’ve been firmly focused on getting back on the field for Vancouver.”

Vancouver is aiming to win its first Canadian title, which will lead to a berth in the 2014 CONCACAF Champions League.

The Whitecaps have dropped the last two finals to Toronto after the format was changed to accommodate four teams with lower-tier Edmonton added. Vancouver also placed second to Toronto the previous two seasons, when the three-team format involved a round-robin competition.

Since away goals serve as the first tiebreaker, Montreal can win the crown if it scores and the game ends in a draw. In the event of another scoreless draw, the teams will play a 30-minute overtime and then, if necessary, go to penalty kicks.

So Miller’s scoring ability could come in handy in the do-or-die game. Rennie, always coy with his lineup, all but confirmed that Miller will play.

But his minutes will be limited due to his lengthy absence from the lineup.

“I haven’t really decided on that yet,” said Rennie. “But most likely, if you’ve been out that long, you probably couldn’t play a full 90 minutes.”

Rennier said that Miller could be used as a starter held to a set amount of playing time or come in as a substitute. Either way, Miller is eager to play.

“It’s a cup final,” said Miller. “It’s an opportunity for the club to win something that we’ve never won before. It’s an opportunity to qualify for the Champions League for the next year, so there’s a lot at stake.”

Notes: Rennie also dismissed the Scottish media reports on Miller’s future. … The coach indicated that injured midfielder Daigo Kobayashi (ankle) could be back training soon.

Sanchez’s bid was broken up with one out in the ninth inning Friday night when Minnesota’s Joe Mauer hit a clean single up the middle. That was the only hit the right-hander allowed in the Tigers’ 6-0 victory over the Twins. It was the fourth one-hitter of Sanchez’s career, to go along a no-hitter he threw as a rookie back in 2006.

“It’s not that I go to the mound and want to do something special, it’s just that I want to go nine innings, go deeper, get a good command, get a good game,” Sanchez said. “When I come to the eighth inning, I think about it. But when I come to the ninth inning, it’s really tough with those guys.”

After seven no-hitters in 2012, baseball is without one so far this season. There have been plenty of close calls. Before Sanchez, four other pitchers had already thrown one-hitters in 2013, according to STATS. And that doesn’t include Yu Darvish of Texas, Clay Buchholz of Boston and Adam Wainwright of St. Louis, all of whom had no-hitters in the eighth inning or later but couldn’t finish the job.

Darvish came within an out of a perfect game at Houston on April 2. He allowed a hit and didn’t finish the game.

Mauer, meanwhile, is making a habit of playing spoiler. It’s the third time in his career he’s broken up a no-hitter in the ninth inning, according to STATS.

“He’s nasty, and he had everything working tonight,” Mauer said. “Obviously, you know exactly what is happening, and you don’t want to get no-hit. I’m just up there trying to put the bat on the ball. He threw me a really good cutter and I was just able to square it up.”

It was Sanchez’s second gem in about a month — he set a franchise record with 17 strikeouts in eight marvelous innings against Atlanta on April 26.

Sanchez (5-4) struck out 12 on Friday and allowed three walks — staying remarkably calm on the mound all the while.

“He called me out to the mound. In the middle of a no-hitter,” Tigers catcher Alex Avila said. “I’ve been in the middle of a no-hitter a few times, in the sixth, seventh inning, I don’t think a pitcher’s ever called me out to the mound. … He just forgot what signs we were using when there’s a guy on second base.”

The home crowd gave Sanchez a standing ovation when he came out to start the ninth, and he immediately struck out Jamey Carroll. Mauer followed with a line drive up the middle — to almost the same spot where Pittsburgh’s Josh Harrison’s hit landed last year when he broke up a no-hit bid by Detroit’s Justin Verlander, also with two outs to go.

Sanchez instinctively reached up for Mauer’s hit, but there was no chance for anyone — least of all the pitcher — to catch it. Sanchez then jerked his head back and spun in frustration, but with a bit of a smile on his face.

“We got the hit, but that doesn’t change anything,” Mauer said. “He still blew us away.”

After Sanchez struck out the next two hitters to end the game, he shared a hug with Avila. Sanchez threw 130 pitches.

“In the end, it’s the result of my work. I try to figure out, to put my ball in the strike zone,” Sanchez said. “It’s a nice result, and I take it.”

Jordan Zimmermann of Washington, Chris Sale of the Chicago White Sox, Shelby Miller of St. Louis and Jon Lester of Boston have also thrown one-hitters this season. Matt Harvey of the New York Mets allowed one hit in nine innings against the White Sox on May 7, but that game went 10 innings and he didn’t finish it.

The last-place Twins have lost 10 straight, and their starting lineup against Sanchez included four players hitting .212 or worse. Carroll drew a walk to lead off the game, and Sanchez issued another to Chris Parmelee in the second. Then the 29-year-old Sanchez, acquired by the Tigers from the Miami Marlins at midseason last year, settled into quite a groove.

He fanned Mauer for the third out of the third, then struck out the side the fourth.

Parmelee led off the fifth with a hard grounder up the middle that Sanchez was able to field himself. The following inning, Brian Dozier nearly broke up the no-hit bid when he hit a slow roller to shortstop Jhonny Peralta and almost beat the throw the first.

Sanchez then struck out Carroll and Mauer to end the Minnesota sixth.

With one out in the eighth, the Twins finally got another runner on base when Eduardo Escobar walked. That snapped a streak of 18 straight hitters retired by Sanchez, but he bounced back to retire pinch-hitter Ryan Doumit on a grounder to first. Pinch-hitter Chris Colabello followed, and with the crowd on its feet, he was called out on strikes.

Miguel Cabrera hit a two-run single in the second, upping his RBI total to 57. Don Kelly added a two-run homer the following inning.

Minnesota’s Samuel Deduno (0-1) allowed six runs and nine hits in 5 1-3 innings.

The most recent no-hitter thrown by a Tiger was in 2011, when Verlander tossed the second of his career. The Twins were no-hit last year by Jered Weaver of the Los Angeles Angels.

NOTES: Sanchez’s no-hitter as a rookie came Sept. 6, 2006, against Arizona. He was pitching for the Marlins then. … Sanchez threw 121 pitches before being taken out of his 17-strikeout game against the Braves, but there was no way manager Jim Leyland was pulling him Friday while the no-hit bid was in progress.

Kuchar had only three holes to complete in what so far was a bogey-free round, with his ball already on the 16th green. He was at 10 under and described the conditions as “just perfect right now.”

But Kuchar was among 54 players still on the course when play was suspended at Hogan’s Alley because of an impending storm system. The 18 groups that didn’t finish are scheduled to resume the second round at 7:15 a.m. Saturday, just more than 12 1/2 hours after coming off the course.

“That’s a bit of a bummer,” said Kuchar, who opened with a 5-under 65. “It’s no fun to wake up at 4:30 to get out here and play three holes.”

At least Kuchar has the lead, by one stroke over Graham DeLaet. The Weyburn, Sask., who shot a 67 in a morning round completed before a two-hour, 10-minute delay just after noon because of lightning. DeLaet was at 9-under 131.

David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., plummeted down the leaderboard to 2 over after hitting a 78.

Kuchar, No. 13 in the world and the highest-ranked player in the field, took the lead with a 6-foot-birdie putt at 457-yard 14th hole, and recovered from a drive into a fairway bunker on the 15th for a par while clouds darkened and thunder could be heard in the distance.

Soon after Kuchar, the WGC-Accenture Match Play winner in February, teed off at the par-3 16th, and his ball landed about 40 feet from the cup, the horn sounded ending play. It was raining heavily about 30 minutes later.

First-round leader Ryan Palmer, the Colonial member who had an opening 62, was still at 8 under after an up-and-down 12 holes Friday that he managed to play at even par.

Steve Flesch (64), 19-year-old Jordan Spieth (67) from Dallas and Josh Teater (67) finished at 8 under.

Flesch’s 64 matched the best completed round of the day and, more importantly, will end his string of 16 missed cuts on the PGA Tour since October 2011.

The 2004 Colonial champion missed the cut in all 12 of his PGA Tour starts last year before right shoulder surgery in August, and is playing only his third tour event this year. The 45-year-old Flesch is playing on a non-exempt major medical extension and has to make $647,510 between this weekend and his next three events to prolong that medical extension.

“I’m very comfortable here and just glad to actually play on the weekend now,” Flesch said. “I was actually cruising, then I got that rain delay and I kind of lost all of my rhythm. … It’s like starting your whole round over. My swing didn’t feel very well on those last three (holes).”

Flesch was on the course trying to complete his morning round when play was stopped for the first time. He had just made a 33-foot birdie putt at the difficult par-4 fifth hole, his 14th hole of the day. The lefty finished with four pars in a row.

Palmer hit his opening drive way right at No. 1, a par 5 that is generally among Colonial’s easiest holes, and started with a par. The former Texas A&M golfer with three PGA Tour wins sank an 11-foot birdie putt at No. 3, but hit his drive at No. 5 out of bounds and had to drop in the rough, leading a double bogey. He followed with a bogey at No. 6 after driving into a fairway bunker.

“When you shoot 8 under, it’s hard to come back sometimes. … I was calm all day, confident,” Palmer said. “Now I’ even par sitting on 13th tee, I have soft greens and pretty calm winds in the morning, so maybe I can get up there with Kuchar and we can have some fun tomorrow.”

In his last three holes before the suspension of play, Palmer made an 8-foot birdied at No. 10 and rolled in a 27-footer at No. 12. He never teed off at the par-3 13th.

Kuchar matched DeLaet for the lead after four birdies his first seven holes. Kuchar had a 15-foot eagle chance at No. 1 that came up just short, then hit is approach at No. 2 that stopped inside 3 feet after ricocheting out of the cup.

“The front nine, I really got it going,” Kuchar said. “I jarred a shot on 2 that landed in the hole and came back out. … I really got off to a great start. And then I kept playing some good golf.”

DeLaet was 10 under after his third consecutive birdie, a 6-footer at the 373-yard second hole that was his shortest putt in that stretch. Then he arrived at Colonial’s famed “horrible horseshoe” as the Nos. 3-5 holes are known because of their layout and the difficulty of the stretch — a 239-yard par 3 sandwiched by the two longest par 4s on the course.

“It definitely got me today,” said DeLaet, who bogeyed all three holes.

After DeLaet’s tee shot at the 470-yard third hole went into a fairway bunker, the Canadian badly missed the green at the par 3 before his approach shot at the 475-yard fifth hole came up short of the green. But DeLaet finished strong, with consecutive birdies to finish after he had come up just short of a 31-foot birdie at No. 7.

“Always nice, and kind of got myself right back in it,” said DeLaet, whose has never finished better than third on the PGA Tour in 69 events. “The main thing for me, I feel more comfortable now if I see my name on the leaderboard. … A few years ago, if I was in 15th going into the weekend, I knew if I could just maintain that position that that would be a ‘good check’ kind of thing. My mindset now is beyond that. I want to try to win golf tournaments.”