MLB

Orioles reliever Matusz baffles Yankees

BALTIMORE — One of the most important people in this series for the Orioles is the equivalent of their Boone Logan.

And that would be Brian Matusz.

Matusz has been summoned out of the Baltimore bullpen just 19 times this season, but he has emerged as a critical lefty reliever for Orioles manager Buck Showalter’s crew. Especially in this best-of-five ALDS against the Yankees.

Why is this? Because Matusz is going to be matched up with lefty-swingers such as Robinson Cano, Curtis Granderson or Raul Ibanez in various key spots throughout this series. Just as he was in the Yankees’ 7-2 ALDS-opening win last night at Camden Yards — a performance in which Matusz clearly flashed his significance.

With the game tied, Matusz entered to start the eighth inning with four straight lefties or switch-hitters on the docket and proceeded to rip right through them. He started with Cano, getting him to ground out to second. Then Matusz caught Nick Swisher looking at a 93-mph fastball.

Matusz walked Mark Teixeira, doing it on four pitches, clearly working him carefully because he knew Granderson was on deck. He then struck out Granderson on three pitches, the last a 93-mph fastball that Granderson missed.

“Absolutely,” Matusz said when asked if he expects to get a lot of work in important moments. “They’ve got a pretty heavy left-handed lineup and obviously a lot of good ones too.”

Matusz’s value was on national display in Friday’s 5-1 wild-card win over the Rangers in Texas. In the eighth inning of that game, with the Orioles up 3-1, lefty slugger Josh Hamilton came up with two outs and a runner on second, Hamilton representing the tying run. Called in from the pen, Matusz promptly struck Hamilton out on three pitches.

A starter his whole career, the 25-year-old Matusz was converted to relief in July, taking the ball in 18 games out of the pen the rest of the season and posting a 1-0 record with a 1.35 ERA. Impressively, he allowed just eight baserunners in 13 1/3 innings (five hits, three walks), striking out 19.

The fourth overall pick in the 2008 Draft, Matusz went a combined 15-14 with a respectable 4.37 ERA in his first 40 major league starts in 2009-10— respectable numbers, especially in the AL East. Last season, however, Matusz went just 1-9 with a staggering 10.69 ERA, and in 16 starts to open this season, he was 5-10 with a 5.42 ERA. Now as a reliever, he has found his niche, and in this series, it will continue to be a key one.