Cubs left-hander Matthew Boyd blanks Orioles over 6 innings in 5-2 victory

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BALTIMORE (AP) — Matthew Boyd pitched six shutout innings, Alex Bregman drove in two runs and the Chicago Cubs beat the Baltimore Orioles 5-2 Tuesday night.

Miguel Amaya scored three times for the Cubs, who have won 11 of 14 to tighten their grip on the top spot in the NL wild card.

Making his third start since being sidelined for seven weeks with a knee injury, Boyd (4-1) allowed three hits, struck out seven and walked two. The left-hander is 2-0 with a 1.72 ERA since returning from the injured list on June 25.

Cubs reliever Ryan Rolison entered in the seventh with a 4-0 lead and promptly gave up two singles and a walk to load the bases. Adley Rutschman delivered a two-out, two-run single off former Oriole Jacob Webb before Gunnar Henderson struck out.

Tyler Ferguson worked a perfect eighth and Trent Thornton got three straight outs for his second save.

Baltimore starter Shane Baz (4-8) retired the first eight batters he faced, but ended up yielding three runs and six hits in six innings.

Bregman hit an RBI single in the third and brought home Amaya with a fielder's choice grounder in the fifth for a 3-0 lead.

Amaya singled and scored on a sacrifice fly by Michael Busch in the seventh, and Dansby Swanson made it 5-2 with an RBI single in the eighth.

The start of the game was delayed for 56 minutes because of the threat of rain. The grounds crew stood poised behind the rolled-up tarp for about an hour, but the rain never came.

Right-hander Colin Rea (6-5, 4.74 ERA) starts for the Cubs on Wednesday night against Baltimore righty Dean Kremer (1-1, 3.18).

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