Matusz with a gem as O's even series in Chicago

After their starters had given up 17 earned runs the past three games, tonight the O's got very solid work from Brian Matusz in a 4-2 win at Chicago. Matusz gave up just one run and three hits over seven innings, throwing 117 pitches. He improved to 6-12, 4.79 in 26 starts. Matusz has allowed just one run and eight hits over 15 innings in his last two starts. He is 3-1, 2.32 over his last five starts. Matusz has allowed just one earned run in four of his last five starts. He shut down a Sox team that was batting .339 with 62 runs scored over their last ten games. Koji Uehara gave up Carlos Quentin's RBI triple in the last of the ninth as Chicago cut the O's lead to two, but he struck out A.J. Piezynski for the final out. The O's scored the game's first two runs in the fifth. Felix Pie drew a leadoff walk and scored on a Matt Wieters' double. Wieters later scored on a Corey Patterson single. Wieters added a sac fly an inning later that scored Ty Wigginton, who had walked, for a 3-0 lead. Gordon Beckham, who hit a three-run homer last night, hit a solo shot to center tonight in the sixth vs. Matusz. It's Beckham's ninth homer of the season. The O's got that run back in the seventh on a solo homer to left by Brian Roberts, his third of the year. Felix Pie went 2 for 3 with a run scored and is 5 for 7 in this series. Pie is 10 for 20 over his last six games and is now batting .305. Losing pitcher Mark Buehrle entered with a mark of 9-3, 2.69 over his last 13 starts. But he gave up four runs over seven innings to fall to 12-10, 3.93. The O's improved to 4-2 vs. the White Sox and 13-9 with Buck Showalter as skipper. Chicago has lost seven of ten, but entered with a record of 44-24 since July 9, the best mark in the Majors over that time. The teams each have a win in this series and the third and final game is Thursday night with Jake Arrieta (4-5, 4.90) facing Edwin Jackson (1-0, 1.35).