TORONTO -- This time, the seventh inning was a breeze for R.A. Dickey. The veteran Toronto knuckleballer, who had made it through six innings in his previous six starts but each time failed to get out the seventh, turned in his strongest performance of the season Saturday, going 8-1/3 innings as the Blue Jays defeated the Oakland Athletics 5-2 at Rogers Centre. "I feel like Ive been right on the edge of a game like this for a long time," said Dickey, who gave up five hits, struck out four and only walked one in improving to 5-4. "Thats whats been encouraging. "Thankfully today, I was able to break through the seventh and get into the eighth and ninth." Dickey received a standing ovation from 29,372 fans when he left with one out and two on in the ninth. The As made it interesting, getting the tying run to the plate in that final at-bat but Brett Cecil got Jed Lowrie on a sacrifice fly and struck out Alberto Callaspo for his third save and Torontos fifth straight win. The win moved the Blue Jays 2.5 games up on the Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees atop the American League East. The last time Toronto was alone in first place this late in the season was July 6, 2000. Dickey, who won the 2012 National League Cy Young Award with the New York Mets, lowered his earned run average to 3.95, the first time its been under 4.00 since he joined the Blue Jays in 2013. "Its great for our team to be able to keep the momentum that weve been generating over the past week-and-a-half or so," said Dickey, who retired 19 of 21 hitters he faced at one stretch. "Its nice to feel like you did your part in that." "He was dealing it," said Toronto manager John Gibbons. "He really was. He was strong. He was very efficient. That particular pitch he throws, when its on its tough to do anything with it. "You can usually tell early on when hes got his good one going and today he did." Brett Lawrie had a home run for the Blue Jays while Melky Cabrera had two hits and two RBIs, and Jose Reyes had a pair of hits as Toronto (28-22) won for the 10th time in their last 12 ball games. They did their damage on Jesse Chavez (4-2), who gave up four runs, two of which were unearned, and eight hits. The Blue Jays used their speed and took advantage of some sloppy defence from Oakland (30-19). "We generated some runs today," said Gibbons as Reyes scored twice from second on balls that never left the infield and Anthony Gose plated from first on a bobble in left field. "The old saying is speed never goes in slumps." After Oakland opened the scoring in the second inning on a Yeonis Cespedes solo home run to straightaway centre field, the Blue Jays tied it up in the third. Gose, who reached on a fielders choice, was moving first to third on Cabreras two-out, opposite field single when left-fielder Craig Gentry bobbled the ball, allowing the fleet-footed Gose to fly around third and slide into the plate ahead of the throw. Toronto took the lead for good with three runs in the fifth. After Lawrie led off the inning by slamming his eighth home run into the Blue Jays bullpen to make it 2-1, they added some insurance, again courtesy of speed and shoddy defence by the As. Gose slapped a sharp single the other way with one-out and moved up to third on a single by Reyes. After a wild pitch advanced Reyes to second, Cabrera hit a ground ball to first baseman Brandon Moss, who booted it as Gose was coming in to score and then flipped it past a covering Chavez, which allowed Reyes to scamper home, punctuating the run with a run head-first slide, making it 4-1. Reyes repeated the feat in the seventh to put the Blue Jays up 5-1. After a lead-off double, he scored all the way from second when Cabrera hit a routine groundball to shortstop but the As made the play too slowly, again allowing Reyes to slide across home plate head-first before Moss could throw him out. "Thats the way I play the game when Im healthy," said Reyes, who spent the early part of the season on the disabled list with a hamstring injury. "Stealing bases. Sliding all over the place. "When Im pain-free Im able to do that stuff, so Im feeling happy. Not only for me, but for the whole team because were playing really good baseball. Its always fun when youre winning." Toronto will go for the three-game sweep of the A.L. West leaders on Sunday afternoon. Notes: The Blue Jays and As wrap up a three-game weekend series on Sunday when Oakland LHP Drew Pomeranz goes against Toronto LHP J.A. Happ. . . Going into Saturdays game, Torontos Edwin Encarnacion led the league in May with 11 home runs and 62 total bases and is second in RBIs with 24 and T2 with 16 extra-base hits in 22 games. . . Since 2010, the Blue Jays lead the Majors with 553 home runs prior to the all-star break, well ahead of the New York Yankees, who are second with 489. Brock Holt Red Sox Jersey . Louis Cardinals placed outfielder Allen Craig on the 15-day disabled list with a right knee contusion on Sunday. Nomar Garciaparra Red Sox Jersey . Vargas (8-3) allowed four singles and two walks while striking out five, allowing only two runners from a diluted Twins lineup to reach second base. Mike Moustakas and Jarrod Dyson hit RBI singles in the second inning against Kevin Correia (4-10), and that was all Vargas needed. http://www.redsoxapparelsshop.com/ted-williams-jersey-c-12/. -- The Phoenix Coyotes have won three in a row for the first time in 4 1/2 months, and theyve done it just in time for the stretch run to the playoffs. Wade Boggs Red Sox Jersey . Burris threw for 247 yards in one half of a game -- on pace for a nearly 500-yard outing -- as the Redblacks downed the woeful Montreal Alouettes 26-10 in CFL pre-season play Friday night at Percival Molson Stadium. Jimmie Foxx Red Sox Jersey . The 25-year-old McIlroy, who is from Northern Ireland, was eligible to play for either Ireland or Team GB when golf makes its return to the Olympics in Brazil for the first time since 1904.Slovakia has named their 38-man selection camp roster, becoming the final team participating at the 2014 World Junior Hockey Championship to unveil the preliminary list of players vying for spots in the tournament. Headlining the group is 2013 Columbus Blue Jackets first-round draft pick Marko Dano. He is joined by three others drafted by NHL clubs, including Montreal Canadiens prospect Martin Reway. The three draftees eclipses by one the amount named to the selection camp by the rival Czech Republic. Thee Slovak camp will take place Dec.dddddddddddd 13-22 in Bratislava as the roster gets cut down to 22. Slovakia finished fourth in Group B behind Canada, Russia and the United States at the 2013 World Juniors, finishing eighth overall in the tournament. 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