Making the match-ups work on the mound

The Orioles continue to get good starting pitching on their current road trip. The latest example was Wei-Yin Chen's outstanding eight innings of scoreless ball last night. He gave up just five singles in the win over Seattle. On this trip, it seems that preparation and performance have led to results. The preparation part takes place when O's manager Buck Showalter decides which pitcher will start against which team. We've seen Showalter often match up a starter against a team he's had success against. It has happened several times on this road trip and produced the desired results, for the most part. Here is a look at the first two series on this trip and how the O's starter had done against those teams in the past. * Chris Tillman had a 1-0 record and 1.96 ERA in three starts against Oakland and gave up two runs in 6 2/3 innings. *Chen had a 3-0 record and ERA of 1.00 in four starts against Oakland and gave up three runs over five innings. * Kevin Gausman was 1-0 with an ERA of 1.29 in one start against Oakland and gave up five runs over four innings. * Bud Norris was 3-0 with an ERA of 0.32 in four starts against the Angels and gave up one earned run over 6 2/3 innings. * Miguel Gonzalez was 2-1 with an ERA of 2.14 in three starts against the Angels and gave up two runs over 7 2/3 innings. * Tillman was 2-0 with an ERA of 1.84 versus the Angels and gave up one run over six innings. Chen had not pitched well before last night against Seattle, going 0-2 with a 4.56 ERA against the Mariners. But that didn't stop him from adding another strong pitching performance. In the seven games on this trip, the O's starters have five quality starts and an ERA of 2.86. If you take away Gausman's outing, that drops to 2.03. The Orioles have put together four straight quality starts for the first time since they had eight in a row from June 9-16. They've allowed just four earned runs in 28 1/3 innings for an ERA of 1.27 the past four games. Tonight in Seattle, Gausman (4-3, 4.04 ERA) faces Felix Hernandez (11-2, 2.02 ERA). Gausman has never faced the Mariners. Hernandez is 5-4 with a 3.44 ERA in 15 career starts against the Orioles. The O's have hit .313 off him in those 15 starts. The Orioles have not exactly torn the cover off the ball on the West Coast, but their starters have been very good and that has kept the team in the game and allowed them to win four out of seven. Showalter put the pitchers in the right spots and they've taken it from there.