Matusz pitches, Orioles win

Well, it's not that simple, but the Orioles are now 9-0 over Brian Matusz's last nine starts after winning today at Seattle. During that stretch, the Orioles have five wins over AL East opponents. It's a big lift to the team to have a healthy Matusz back, and, even though he did not get the win today, the team did and that is the most important thing. Over his last nine starts, dating to last August, Matusz is now 6-0 with an ERA of 1.57. The Orioles have beaten, in order, Texas, the Chicago White Sox, Boston, the Yankees, Toronto, Boston, Tampa, Detroit and now Seattle in those nine games. The Orioles are 22-19 in Matusz's 41 career starts. The last time they lost a game he started was August 14th at Tampa. Matusz threw 84 pitches today, 52 strikes. He probably could have gone deeper in the game but Buck Showalter reasoned that 84 pitches in the majors is tougher than a higher number in the minors and he wanted to get Matusz out of the game feeling good about his outing. Mission accomplished there. By the way, the Orioles' bullpen was solid today and has now gone four games without allowing a run. Over the last four games, the 'pen has pitched 11 1/3 scoreless allowing just three hits with nine strikeouts. Matusz is back, the Orioles won and now we get to see what a solid four of Guthrie, Britton, Matusz and Arrieta can do moving forward.