To new Orioles manager Buck Showalter, baseball is a game of adjustments. The way Showalter sees it, the Orioles have been spending too many seasons -- 13, to be exact -- adjusting their starting lineups and rotations for the rest of the American League.
"We got some things we can bring, too," Showalter said before Monday night's game against the Chicago White Sox. "We've been making people make adjustments to some things we're doing now. We want to be more proactive than reactive."
This is how a team gets really proactive: take a series from the first-place White Sox, winning three one-run games, two in extra innings. The latest example came in a 3-2 victory at Camden Yards when Brian Roberts led off the bottom of the 10th with a home run.
Roberts' home run, onto the flag court in right field on the second pitch from reliever J.J Putz, was the first for the veteran second baseman in what has been a frustrating season that just recently resumed after he missed 3 1/2 months with a herniated disk in his back.
"I just got a 1-0 fastball," Roberts said. "At that time in the game, you're always trying to figure out whether to take a strike or not. I figured, 'Let's try and put a good swing on it.' You're pretty sure you're going to get a heater at that point, 1-0 and leading off the inning. I was just fortunate to get a good pitch to hit."
The victory not only was the third in four games against the first-place White Sox, but it was also the sixth in seven games under Showalter.
"There's another challenge around every corner," Showalter said. "You can't dwell much on it. It's like the walk up the runway back in here. It's the same way with losses and tough games. Now the road presents a challenge for us. If you look at it statistically, it's been a real challenge for us."
Monday's win came after Paul Konerko had tied the score at 2 with a solo homer in the top of the ninth against closer Alfredo Simon.
It came on a night when the Orioles finally had some success against Edwin Jackson, the 26-year-old right-hander who had won his past four decisions against Baltimore. It also came on a night when Brian Matusz had his second straight strong outing, giving up one run and three hits in six innings.
Setting the tone by striking out Roberts and Ty Wigginton in the first inning, Jackson retired 10 of the first 11 Orioles he faced, fanning four of them.
After Nick Markakis struck out to start the fourth, the Orioles seemed to get a bead on Jackson's fastball. A single to left by Wigginton was quickly followed by a line shot off the right-field wall by Luke Scott.
But a combination of Scott's slow feet and the strong right arm of converted center fielder Andruw Jones in right led to the Orioles' cleanup hitter being thrown out at second. After a walk to Adam Jones, Wigginton was stranded at third when Felix Pie lifted a lazy fly ball to short left.
But as has happened since Showalter took over last week, Orioles starter Brian Matusz kept his team in the game.
Coming off his strongest outing in a month, when he gave up one run and seven hits over six innings of a 9-7 win over the Los Angeles Angels, Matusz was nearly as stingy as Jackson.
The only early mistakes Matusz made came in the third, but he and the Orioles paid for them.
With one out, he hit Juan Pierre with a pitch. Then, after Pierre got an early jump and made it to second on a groundout, Alex Rios took advantage of a 3-1 pitch with a run-scoring double down the left-field line.
Matusz did a nice job getting out of trouble in the sixth. After giving up a leadoff double to Alexei Ramirez, who went to third on a grounder to second by Rios, Matusz intentionally walked Konerko.
Matusz got designated hitter Carlos Quentin to chase a changeup on 1-2 and then induced A.J. Pierzynski to pop out to catcher Matt Wieters between the pitcher's mound and first base. Matusz would leave the game before the seventh, but not before the Orioles took the lead.
They finally got to Jackson with one out in the sixth when Wigginton cranked a 386-foot shot into the left-field stands for his 18th home run, tying the score 1.
Scott followed with a single to right and reached second when third baseman Dayan Viciedo tried unsuccessfully for a barehand pickup on a slow roller. Pie then loaded the bases with a single to short right field.
Jackson went to a 3-1 count against Wieters. With the crowd of an announced 14,135 starting to buzz, Wieters hit what appeared to be an inning-ending double-play ball to Konerko at first. But Scott showed a little more speed than he had earlier, beating Konerko's throw home to give the Orioles a 2-1 lead.
Koji Uehara, who had surrendered only one earned run in his past 10 appearances over 102/3 innings, retired the White Sox in order -- and without a ball being hit out of the infield -- in his two innings of relief. He set down six straight batters, and Pierre's foul pop down the third base line was the farthest a ball was hit.
With a chance to get Matusz his second straight win, Simon gave up a home run for the second straight game, this time to Konerko. After he walked Quentin and allowed him to move to second on a bunt, Simon left the game to boos.
Enter Michael Gonzalez, who had that treatment early in the season and again when he walked pinch hitter Omar Vizquel. But the 32-year-old left-hander left to cheers when he struck out Jones and then got Brent Lillibridge to ground out.
don.markus@baltsun.com