Tonight the Orioles picked up their 60th win on the season in their 150th game. In a vacuum that's pretty pathetic, but it's worth noting that they have, for the first time this season, reached a winning percentage of .400. And all it took was a 28-17 record since Buck Showalter came on board to do so.
The Orioles jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning as Brian Roberts singled and Nick Markakis walked. Ty Wigginton hit a long fly ball to center field allowing Brian to tag and get to third, where he scored on a sacrifice fly by Luke Scott.
That lead was short lived, though. Brian Matusz labored through a 38 pitch first inning in which he had trouble keeping the ball down, at least at first. He walked Marco Scutaro to start the game and then allowed back-to-back singles to Darnell McDonald and Victor Martinez. Scutaro scored on the Martinez single and just like that Matusz had thrown eighteen pitches without recording an out. Oof. He settled down after that, retiring the next three, but an eleven pitch at-bat to get the final out against Jed Lowrie killed his pitch count.
Matusz retired the Red Sox in order in the second and got through the third, fourth, and fifth innings without many problems. Unfortunately his pitch count topped 100 due to his rough first inning and five was all Brian Matusz would give the team tonight.
David Hernandez took over for Matusz in the sixth with the Orioles up 2-1, but he couldn't hold the lead. His control just wasn't there as we walked Mike Lowell (it's always the worst when they walk someone who stinks) and then hit Jed Lowrie. Lowell scored on a single by Bill Hall to tie the game at two. Hernandez was able to wriggle out of any more damage and he came back to pitch a strong seventh inning, getting the Red Sox 1-2-3 with two strikeouts.
The game wasn't tied for long as the O's came back for two runs in the top of the seventh. A Brian Roberts walk and Nick Markakis double put runners at second and third with one out for Ty Wigginton, who knocked in Brian with a sacrifice fly. Luke Scott followed Wiggy and singled in Nick to give the Orioles a 4-2 lead that they wouldn't lose.
Jim Johnson pitched a strong eighth inning and Koji Uehara continued to make us all happy with a perfect ninth, including two strikeouts for good measure. O's win! Camden North, woo!