TORONTO -- Aaron Sanchez continues to be a strong starter for the Toronto Blue Jays.

There were concerns before the season began about how he would handle the workload in his first full major league season as a starter, and steps were taken to control his innings pitched.

He is handling everything well.

The 24-year-old right-hander struck out 10 over six innings on Tuesday night, and Josh Donaldson and Ezequiel Carrera homered as the Blue Jays defeated the Baltimore Orioles 5-1 in the opener of a three-game series.

"About as good as he can get," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said of Sanchez. "We were a little concerned early, he was throwing a lot of pitches and getting strikeouts, but he was able to settle in and get six (innings)."

The outing brought Sanchez up to 185 innings, by far the most in his career in one season. Sanchez (14-2) allowed five hits, three walks and one run to end a string of three straight no-decisions.

"Aaron has been good all year," Gibbons said. "He's one of the most consistent pitchers in baseball, he's got to be. He's as strong as ever. He's learned how to pitch. He has the big arm and the hearer but he's learned how to pitch both sides of the plate."

Sanchez said, "They came out super-aggressive and I was able to locate the heater when I needed to. I was able to repeat my mechanics most of the night."

Carrera and Donaldson each had two RBIs for the Blue Jays, who won for the eighth time in 12 games.

By winning the opener of the three-game series, the Blue Jays (87-70) moved two games ahead of the Orioles (85-72) in the race for the first wild-card spot in the American League. Baltimore holds a one-game lead on the Detroit Tigers (84-73) for the second wild card.

Toronto also barely stayed alive in the AL East race when Boston (92-65) lost to the New York Yankees, but the Red sox lead the Blue Jays by five games with five to play.

Joe Biagini took over from Sanchez in the seventh and allowed one infield single over two scoreless innings.

Toronto closer Roberto Osuna allowed singles to Matt Wieters and Michael Bourn to start the ninth, but he got Adam Jones to ground into a game-ending double play.

"We just didn't mount much offensively," Baltimore manager Buck Showalter said. "Sanchez was really good again, like he's been most of the year. We had very few opportunities and we didn't cash them in very much. They played well defensively.

"We're capable of better. We only scored one run. We gave them a lot of margin for error. They have good pitchers. That's why they're where they are, or one of the big reasons."

Orioles first baseman Chris Davis and manager Buck Showalter were ejected in the seventh after Davis was called out on strikes.

Baltimore right-hander Kevin Gausman (8-12) allowed seven hits, two walks and five runs (four earned) in six innings in taking his second loss in a row. He struck out five.

Carrera led off the bottom of the first with a walk and Donaldson followed with his 37th homer of the season to give Toronto a 2-0 lead.

"When you put that many guys on base and don't have quick innings against this lineup, you're going to get hurt," Gausman said. "You try to make those big guys not beat you and you can kind of get overwhelmed with some of the other guys in their lineup.

"Me, against them this year, the first inning hasn't been very good in all three of my starts. Especially when you walk the leadoff guy, you're kind of putting yourself in a bad situation. They fouled off some good pitches and took some really good pitches also."

Sanchez struck out five of his first six batters with a walk breaking up the streak.

He allowed a run in the third after a leadoff double by J.J. Hardy, a one-out walk to Davis, a spectacular diving catch by shortstop Troy Tulowitzki on a low liner by Manny Machado, and an RBI single by Mark Trumbo.

The Blue Jays took a 3-1 lead with one out in the bottom of the third when Carrera hit his sixth homer of the season.

The lead increased to 5-1 in the fifth. Kevin Pillar led off with a single and Darwin Barney sacrificed him to second. Carrera hit an RBI single and continued to second on the throw home. Donaldson walked. Carrera scored when Machado threw wildly to second for an error on Edwin Encarnacion's grounder to third.

NOTES: Toronto RHP Joaquin Benoit is out for an undetermined period after tearing his left calf while running in from the bullpen during the bench-clearing melee with the New York Yankees on Monday. ... Toronto 2B Devon Travis (shoulder) was not in the lineup Tuesday and INF Darwin Barney started at second base. Travis left the game Monday in the sixth inning because of a sore shoulder, the result of a second-inning bench-clearing incident with the New York Yankees. He aggravated it on a swing. ... The Blue Jays recalled RHP Chris Smith and INF/OF Andy Burns on Tuesday. ... The Orioles confirmed that RHP Ubaldo Jimenez would start the series finale on Thursday. ... Toronto LHP Francisco Liriano (8-13, 4.88 ERA) faces Baltimore RHP Chris Tillman (16-6, 3.84) on Wednesday in the second game of the series.