Matusz hospitalized with illness

Orioles left-hander Brian Matusz is in a local hospital tonight due to an illness that kept him away from Camden Yards.

Matusz apparently has come down with a virus that's working its way through the clubhouse. Hitting coach Jim Presley left the ballpark this afternoon with the same symptoms, leaving his responsibilities to coach Einar Diaz.

Manager Buck Showalter isn't certain whether Matusz will be available to pitch Saturday night.

"We've got this bug going around. It's taken about two guys out a day, seems like," Showalter said.

"I'm not sure about Brian Matusz's status tomorrow. There was some talk about if he doesn't get better, keeping him in the hospital overnight."

Chris Tillman allowed two unearned runs in eight innings despite not carrying "his normal stuff," Showalter said.

"We've seen him pitch better than that," Showalter said. "A real testament to him and Matt (Wieters). When you can put three or four pitches in a hitter's head that you can throw for strikes, you can get by on some nights. That's a testament to a good pitcher, to give us a good chance to win without carrying what we've seen him carry.

"They pitched real well, too. We had, what, one real good opportunity? But you better cash it in. Their bullpen through thick and thin has been pretty solid the last few years. If they've got a lead after the sixth or seventh inning, they're going to make it tough on you, which they did tonight."

The wind made it tough on the Orioles, knocking down fly balls - especially one from Adam Jones in the fourth - that appeared to be home runs.

"That's the other part of it," Showalter said. "Chris just missed a couple, Matty just missed his. Jonathan (Schoop) just missed one. Adam just missed one. Some days, those fall on the warning track. But it was a testament to their stuff. They didn't quite allow us to square it up all the way and get through it. But there's a fine line there.

"Through the years, when you look out on that column that says error, if you're leading that one on the bad side of it, you usually don't like your chances. When you play at this level, there's a fine margin of error. We just had two or three things we didn't execute and they really get magnified in a game that both pitchers are pitching that well."

Schoop committed two errors in the fourth and Ryan Flaherty failed to turn a double play, but Showalter didn't feel the need to confront them in the dugout.

"Timing's everything," he said. "That's certainly not the time. We talk to all our guys a lot, but when the game starts, it's time to focus on that. If you're doing a lot of coaching, a lot of talking during the game, you probably haven't done your work beforehand."