AMERICAN LEAGUE
Baltimore Orioles left-hander Chen Wei-yin allowed a season-high seven runs in only 4-2/3 innings against the Kansas City Royals on Thursday and picked up his seventh loss of the season.
The Taiwanese pitcher, whose record fell to 10-7 after the Orioles’ 8-2 loss, said that he “didn’t really have good command today.”
Chen said he thought too much on the mound and simply did not get the job done.
“I hope I will perform better in the next game,” said the 26-year-old, who is in his first season in the US major leagues.
He previously pitched professionally in Japan, and was one of the Chunichi Dragons’ top starters over the past four years.
Despite the loss, Orioles manager Buck Showalter voiced his support for Chen, saying: “He’s performed at a very high level for us.”
He praised Chen as a very competitive player and expressed confidence that Chen would soon be back in form. Chen, the fifth Taiwanese pitcher to play in the US major leagues, is emerging as a star for the Orioles and helping them contend for the team’s first playoff berth since 1997.
He set a major league record for most strikeouts in a game by a Taiwan-born pitcher when he struck out 12 batters in 5-2/3 innings against the Oakland Athletics last month. He also became the first Oriole pitcher in club history to strike out 10 or more in less than six innings.
The Orioles gave away 10,000 T-shirts with Chen’s name written in Chinese characters at Thursday’s game, where hundreds of Taiwanese fans were present to cheer him on.
YANKEES 4, TIGERS 3
In Detroit, Michigan, New York’s Mark Teixeira and Eric Chavez hit solo home runs on consecutive pitches in the eighth inning to put the Yankees ahead and they held on to beat the Detroit Tigers.
Detroit pitcher Joaquin Benoit (1-3) retired the first batter in the eighth before Teixeira and Chavez connected, the eighth time the Yankees have hit consecutive homers this season. Benoit has given up nine hits — seven for homers — in his past 10 games.
Clay Rapada (3-0) got the last two outs with one runner on base in the seventh inning to take the win, while Rafael Soriano escaped a first-and-third, no-outs jam in the ninth inning to record the save.
In other AL action, it was:
‧ Rays 7, Blue Jays 1
‧ Indians 5, Red Sox 3
NATIONAL LEAGUE
AP, ST LOUIS, Missouri
St Louis bounced back from a 15-0 blowout the previous night to beat the San Francisco Giants 3-1 on Thursday, with Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright throwing seven strong innings.
Wainwright (10-10) allowed one run and struck out seven. He has given up two earned runs or fewer in his past five starts.
Carlos Beltran hit his 27th homer of the season for the Cardinals. Beltran, who leads the NL with 80 RBIs, hit a two-run homer off Madison Bumgarner (12-7) in the first. Bumgarner has given up 15 of his 18 home runs this season on the road.
In other NL action, it was:
‧ Nationals 5, Astros 0
‧ Diamondbacks 6, Pirates 3
‧ Mets 6, Marlins 1
‧ Cubs 5, Reds 3
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