Adopting a win one for Juan Samuel mantra, the Orioles rallied to tie the score in the eighth inning on Corey Patterson's solo homer and then won it in the 11th on Ty Wigginton's sacrifice fly.
But not everyone in the visiting clubhouse at Kauffman Stadium was thrilled after the Orioles' 6-5 victory over the Kansas City Royals before an announced 17,220, a win that broke a five-game losing streak and was just the Orioles' third in 14 games since the All-Star break.
Rookie left-hander Brian Matusz, who was handed an early 3-0 lead and didn't give up a hit through the first three innings, allowed all five Royals he faced in the fourth inning to either reach base or drive in a run. He then was removed from the game by Samuel, a decision that left Matusz staring incredulously toward the Orioles' dugout.
"I was little bit shocked because it was so soon, and my first few innings, I was so effective," Matusz said. "Things were going so well. I still felt pretty good at that point. I was a little upset. Obviously, nobody likes coming out of the game, especially when you have good stuff, and that's how I felt. Juan obviously felt that it was a game that we had, we had the lead at the time, and I wasn't capable of finishing the job, so that was the move he decided to make, and obviously I wanted to stay in there and keep going. But if I don't like it, I need to stop walking guys and pitch better."
The 23-year-old walked three of the first four that he faced in the Royals' five-run fourth, which also included a run-scoring error on center fielder Adam Jones and a double-clutch by right fielder Nick Markakis that prevented a play at the plate on Alex Gordon's RBI single.
Matusz also allowed a double to Billy Butler, a sacrifice fly to Mike Aviles and a bloop single to Rick Ankiel. It was Ankiel's hit that prompted Samuel to take the slow walk to the mound and relieve Matusz after another troubling outing.
Samuel, who learned earlier in the day that Buck Showalter would take the reins of the club Tuesday, said after the game that Matusz has become a "major concern," though he still expects the left-hander to make his next start.
"My mind-set with these guys is I just didn't want to put them in position where they could lose the ballgame and you end up overexposing these guys," Samuel said. "We've seen it so many times where some young guys come up and they can't find the plate. Like I said, if I can remove these guys earlier than [later], I'm going to do it just so I can protect them. He was throwing the ball so good. We just think he lost focus there for one minute, and we didn't want to leave him out there any longer."
In three starts since the All-Star break, Matusz has a 12.60 ERA and has pitched just 10 innings. He has just one win in his past 18 starts, and after working at least five innings in 15 of his first 17 starts, Matusz has failed to complete four innings in three of his past four outings.
The disappointing thing about Thursday night was that he was pitching so well, throwing 28 of his 41 pitches for strikes. However, in walking three of the first four batters in the fourth, he threw only four total strikes.
"I don't think it's mechanics because I felt good; I felt locked in from the get-go," Matusz said. "It was just a matter of being too fine. I was too fine with some of those pitches, and then the 3-2 pitch when I walked in a runner, I was too fine and I missed by a couple inches. And that's the difference between staying in a game, pulling it around and getting pulled. I feel good right now, I feel like I have good stuff, my velocity was good today. Curveball was the best it's ever been, changeup was a little bit inconsistent, but overall, I was attacking the zone and throwing a lot of strikes up until that fourth inning where I was too fine and didn't get the job done."
Asked how difficult the recent stretch has been, Matusz said: "Absolutely frustrating. Not happy right now at all."
The only good news was that Matusz didn't get what would have been an American League-leading 12th loss. He had Patterson largely to thank for that. Not even in the lineup until Miguel Tejada was traded to the San Diego Padres about three hours before the game, Patterson cut the Orioles' deficit to one run with a sixth-inning RBI groundout. He then tied the score at 5 with two outs in the eighth with a home run to right field off Robinson Tejeda. It was Patterson's sixth home run, and four of them have tied the score.
"For me really, he just kept pumping fastballs," Patterson said. "Just going over the scouting report on him, I knew he had a good fastball, so I told myself to just see heater. In the back of my mind, I thought he was going to throw me something off-speed, because I kept fouling them off and he didn't. Obviously, during that at-bat, when you see the same pitch, you are going to get a pretty good track on it. I saw it well, and it went over the fence."
The Orioles, who also got a solo homer from Nick Markakis, stayed in the game because of their bullpen, which tossed 7 2/3 scoreless innings. The two most impressive relievers were Michael Gonzalez, who pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings and hit 95 mph on the stadium radar gun at one point, and David Hernandez, who turned in two scoreless innings.
Hernandez got his fifth win after the Orioles scored in the 11th. Cesar Izturis worked Blake Wood for a leadoff walk, and then Brian Roberts' single put runners on the corners with no outs. Markakis, who hit a solo homer in the third inning off starter Kyle Davies, couldn't get a run in as he hit a ground ball right at the pulled-in infield. Izturis broke from home but stayed in the rundown long enough to allow Roberts to get to third and Markakis to move to second.
Wigginton, the next batter, then flied out to left, allowing Roberts to score easily. Alfredo Simon scattered two hits in the ninth to pick up his 15th save.
"I expect this kind of intensity for the next three games here," said Samuel, who spoke to his players before the game and urged them to keep playing hard regardless of who is the manager. "These are very important to me. These guys came out hard, and after that disastrous [fourth] inning, we kept it close, came back and kept pushing."
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