Blue Jays starting pitcher Marcus Stroman throws to an Orioles batter in the first inning of the game in Baltimore on April 19, 2016.Rob Carr/Getty Images
For Troy Tulowitzki, it is all about making baby steps with his swing.
Mired in a horrendous, not to mention embarrassing, slump to begin the 2016 Major League Baseball season, the slick fielding Toronto Blue Jay shortstop is slowly displaying signs he is about to break loose.
For the first time in 15 games this season, Tulowitzki has strung together hits in three consecutive contests – and his third one Tuesday night against the Baltimore Orioles was a biggie.
Tulowitzki, who was batting a lowly .140 heading into the game, lashed a two-out double in the third inning that scored two runs to help lift the Blue Jays (8-7) to a 4-3 victory at Camden Yards.
It was the first of a three-game set against the front-running Orioles (8-4) as the Blue Jays, in the midst of a seven-game road trip, won their third straight for the first time this season.
Starting pitcher Marcus Stroman continued his excellent season thus far for Toronto, limiting a potent Baltimore attack to three runs off six hits sprinkled over seven innings of effective work to improve to 3-0.
It marked the third time in four starts this season that Stroman has pitched at least seven innings in a game.
Stroman, who was injured for most of last season, has not lost a game since Sept. 15, 2014, when the Orioles beat him 5-2 in Baltimore. In his nine starts since then, he has rattled off an impressive 8-0 record in nine starts.
The Blue Jays came into Camden Yards with fond memories.
It was last year, on Sept. 30, when Toronto crunched the Orioles 15-2, that the Blue Jays clinched the American League East division, advancing into the playoffs for the first time in 22 years.
This season, the Orioles have been among the hottest teams in baseball, reeling off seven straight wins to begin the year and were perched in top place in the AL East for the start of Toronto's three-game visit.
The Orioles have been finding success primarily through a red-hot offence.
Baltimore came into the game batting a collective .295, the second highest average in MLB. The Orioles had stroked an AL best 23 home runs.
Leading 1-0 after a Ryan Goins single cashed Edwin Encarnacion in the second inning, Tulowitzki provided Toronto with some breathing room in the third.
He doubled into the left-field corner off Baltimore starter Mike Wright, scoring two more runs that provided the Blue Jays with a 3-0 lead.
After Manny Machado extended his hitting streak to 12 games for Baltimore with his fifth home run of the season off Stroman in the Baltimore fourth, Jose Bautista restored Toronto's three-run advantage in the seventh when he double cashed Michael Saunders from second.
The Orioles got to Stroman again in their half of the seventh when Matt Wieters drove a two-run homer to right that cut Toronto's lead to 4-3.
Roberto Osuna, who came on in relief in the eighth inning for the final out, pitched a perfect one-two-three ninth to earn his fifth save of the season.