The Orioles avenged a sweep against the A's in Oakland with a series-opening 4-2 win against the Athletics on Monday night at Camden Yards.
Brian Matusz picked up his first win of the season after allowing just two runs in 5 1/3 innings of work. Matusz (1-0) didn't look as sharp as he did in his debut last week, giving up seven hits and two walks while striking out three in an 89-pitch effort. Matusz kept the A's off the board until giving up a two-run blast in the top of the fourth inning...
The Birds gave Matusz an early cushion, scoring once in the first and three times in the second to take a commanding 4-0 lead. Vladimir Guerrero slapped a two-out RBI single in the first to score Robert Andino to give the O's a rare first-inning run. The Birds used four singles, a walk, an error, a stolen base and a wild pitch to cross the plate three times in the bottom of the second...
In what has become a formidable 1-2-3 punch, Jim Johnson, Koji Uehara and Kevin Gregg shut down the A's offense over the final 3 2/3 frames. Johnson came on in relief of Matusz with two on and one out and induced a double play to end the top of the sixth inning before retiring the side in order in the seventh. Uehara mowed through the next three batters in the eighth, striking out one before Gregg picked up his 11th save of the season with a 1-2-3 ninth, striking out two. Hopefully this is the bullpen we'll see over the rest of the season...it seems as if the roles have been defined and everything is working right now.
The Birds send Chris Jakubauskas to the mound to make a spot-start on Tuesday night...
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