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 The Orioles left-hander scattered four hits over seven shutout
innings, and first baseman Chris Davis hit a two-run homer in the
first inning as Baltimore defeated the Boston Red Sox 6-0.
Chen (7-2) won his fourth consecutive decision with his best
performance this season. He retired the first 11 Boston batters,
struck out seven without a walk and allowed just four singles before
leaving the game after a one-hour, 38-minute rain delay midway
through the seventh inning.
"Wei-Yin was really good," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "His
stuff's been real crisp. He's always going to carry everything out
there, but he had some depth to his breaking ball. It wasn't that
side-to-side one. And I think he got two double plays off the
changeup."
High pitch counts caused Chen problems at times this season,
especially early in games, but he had little trouble in that regard
Wednesday. He needed just 87 pitches to get through seven innings.
Showalter said that, if not for rain delay, Chen would have come out
for the eighth inning. Instead, Darren O'Day (eighth) and Zach
Britton (ninth) closed out the win.
Chen also got some timely help from his defense. Second baseman
Jonathan Schoop, shortstop J.J. Hardy and Davis turned 4-6-3 double
plays to finish the fifth, sixth and seventh innings.
"We are lucky to have J.J. and Schoop playing the middle infield
there for us," Chen said through an interpreter after the game. "And
I was able to get ground balls when I needed, so I'm very happy
about the results."
The Orioles (33-31) got outstanding pitching in the series, holding
Boston (29-36) to just one run while winning two of three.
Right-handers Bud Norris and Tommy Hunter combined on a shutout
Monday night.
The Red Sox edged Baltimore 1-0 Tuesday thanks to the only run they
scored in this series. Boston manager John Farrell said his offense
simply needs to improve.
"One run in 27 innings is extremely difficult," Farrell said. "You
credit their pitching, you credit inning-ending double plays three
different times tonight. We had big opportunities yesterday that we
left a number of men on base, particularly in the early innings.
We've got to do a better job offensively all the way around."
After managing just two hits Tuesday, the Orioles started quickly
Wednesday. Left fielder Steve Pearce drew a one-out walk off Boston
starter Rubby De La Rosa (1-2) in the first inning and scored when
Jones doubled to left.
Davis then lined a two-run homer to right, giving the Orioles an
early 3-0 lead.
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"I feel like I've been seeing the ball well, with the exception
of last night, for a while," Davis said. "I haven't been able to put
everything together; my swing just hasn't felt right. Came out here
early today and worked on a few things that had really been helpful
for me in the past and was able to swing the bat the way I wanted to
tonight,"
Chen retired the first 11 Boston batters before second baseman
Dustin Pedroia singled to right with two outs in the fourth. Pedroia
tried to stretch it into a double, but right fielder Nick Markakis
gunned him down.
The Orioles then made it 4-0 on catcher Nick Hundley's RBI single
with two outs in the bottom of the fourth.
Baltimore almost added another run when Hundley was ruled safe at
second on a force play where Boston third baseman Xander Bogaerts
flipped the ball to Pedroia. However, the Red Sox challenged the
play and the ruling was overturned. If Hundley had been called safe,
shortstop J.J. Hardy would have scored from third. Instead, the
force play ended the inning.
Schoop and Markakis drew bases-loaded walks in the eighth off Chris
Capuano to give the Orioles a 6-0 lead after the game restarted.
NOTES: Orioles RHP Miguel Gonzalez (oblique strain) pitched 4 1/3
scoreless innings Wednesday in his first rehab appearance for
Double-A Bowie. He allowed four hits and a walk, and he struck out
five. ... Baltimore manager Buck Showalter again dropped 3B Manny
Machado from second to seventh in the batting order, something the
skipper has done a few times. LF Steve Pearce batted second. "He's
swinging the bat well. It's pretty simple," Showalter said of
Pearce. ...The Red Sox signed 36-year-old OF Andres Torres to a
minor league deal. Manager John Ferrell said Torres, who hasn't
played in 2014, will begin with Class A Lowell (short season) and
work his way up. There is no official timeline on when Torres would
join Boston. ... Red Sox SS Stephen Drew (oblique strain) was out of
the lineup for a third consecutive day.
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