Orioles 8, Red Sox 7

Brian Matusz became the first Baltimore starter to pitch five innings this spring and kept trying to boost his chances of earning a spot in the Orioles' rotation.

Matusz, among several candidates for the No. 5 slot, was solid as the Orioles beat Boston Tuesday at Fort Myers, Fla.

Matusz allowed one run and six hits, striking out two and walking one. The left-hander threw 73 pitches, 48 for strikes.

"That was the goal today, to be able to build the pitch count up and be able to go five innings," Matusz said. "Be able to get through with success, and I'm happy about that."

Matusz gave up a run in the first on a double by Shane Victorino, a single by Dustin Pedroia's single and a sacrifice fly from Mike Napoli.

"I liked the way he came back after the first inning. He threw the ball good," Baltimore manager Buck Showalter said. "His stuff got better as the outing went on."

"He's still one of the competitors. Nobody's really taken a step back. We've got a little less than two weeks. We'll continue to take in the looks that we have and try to make a good decision."

Baltimore led by six runs before the Red Sox scored six times in the eighth off relievers Daniel Schlereth and Adam Russell to tie it. Danny Valencia's solo home run in the ninth put the Orioles ahead.

Ryan Dempster started for the Red Sox, going five innings and giving up three runs on six hits and two walks.

Baltimore got all its runs off Dempster in the third when Trayvon Robinson led off with a homer. Taylor Teagarden hit a double and Jason Pridie singled, setting up Brian Roberts' RBI single and Nate McLouth's RBI groundout.

"They bunched some hits together ... but I think for the most part he used all of his pitches. Might not have been as sharp start to finish with his strike-throwing as we've seen in some previous spring training starts here for him," Boston manager John Farrell said. "But like I said, was able to make a pitch and induce a couple of groundball double plays."

The Orioles got three runs off Daniel Bard in the seventh. Manny Machado doubled and Baltimore went on to load the bases, with Ryan Flaherty hitting a two-run single.

"The one thing that we have seen, that first hitter takes him two or three pitches to kind of get in the flow of the inning," Farrell said. "Today he fell behind 2-and-0 prior to the double to Machado."

Boston broke through in the eighth. Daniel Nava, Brock Holt and Mike Carp singled for a run. Drew Sutton's single loaded the bases and Jeremy Hazelbaker's RBI single ended Schlereth's outing. Russell gave up consecutive singles to Mauro Gomez, Jonathan Diaz and Jackie Bradley, scoring three more runs to tie the game.

Notes

Rangers option Mike Olt to Triple-A

The Texas Rangers have optioned top prospect Mike Olt, the former UConn star, to Triple-A Round Rock and reassigned right-handed reliever Yoshinori Tateyama to their minor league camp.

Olt was a long shot to make the opening day roster as a corner infielder and outfielder. He was hitting just .194 with a team-high 12 strikeouts in spring training.

Tateyama has a 4.50 ERA in four innings this spring. He has a career ERA of 5.75 in 61 innings over two major league seasons.