MAJOR LEAGUES
Taiwanese pitcher Chen Wei-yin’s quest to improve on his career-high season-win total stalled on Monday night as the Baltimore Orioles lost to the New York Yankees 5-0 at Yankee Stadium.
Chen, who fell to 16-5 for the season after allowing four runs (two earned) in six innings, might have one more opportunity to go for a 17th win on Saturday night in Toronto against the Blue Jays.
Photo: USA Today
That would enable him to pitch in the American League Division Series on regular rest for the Orioles, who have clinched the American League East title and home-field advantage in the playoffs.
Their opening best-of-five playoff series against a yet-to-be determined opponent is to begin on Oct. 2.
Against the Yankees, Chen was hurt by third baseman Ryan Flaherty’s throwing error in the third inning, leading to two unearned runs.
He allowed two more in the fifth on a full-count two-out double by Derek Jeter. In his six innings, he gave up six hits and walked two while striking out four.
“I think my control wasn’t great out there,” Chen was quoted as saying through his interpreter on MLB.com. “During the game, I tried to make adjustments. The results weren’t perfect, but it was acceptable.”
Chen’s teammates struggled offensively against Yankees starter Michael Pineda, who yielded only a hit and a walk in 7-1/3 innings.
Pineda retired his first 13 batters before J.J. Hardy singled sharply to left field. Jose Pirela, the Yankees’ team-record 57th player this season, became New York’s first player in 34 years to triple in his first big league at-bat. He went 2 for 3 with the go-ahead RBI.
Despite the loss, AL East champion Baltimore clinched home-field advantage in an AL division series starting Oct. 2 when Detroit lost to the Chicago White Sox.
Even if Chen loses his in final start, he has already had the best of his three seasons in the major leagues and one of his best dating back to the four seasons he pitched in Japan as a starter for the Chunichi Dragons.
He has eclipsed his previous season-high total for wins in the US (12) and in Japan (13), and his ERA (3.58) is under 4 for the first time in his three seasons in the majors.
The Greater Kaohsiung native is also the Orioles’ most successful left-handed pitcher since Jeff Ballard went 18-8 in 1989, and he will likely have the distinction of garnering the most wins of any pitcher from Asia in the major leagues this year.
His closest pursuers, the Seattle Mariners’ Japanese starter Hisashi Kwakuma and Korean Ryu Hyun-jin of the Los Angeles Dodgers, both have 14 wins.
In Cleveland, Danny Duffy pitched six shutout innings for his first win in more than a month as the Kansas City Royals moved closer to the top of the AL Central and kept some distance over Cleveland in the wild-card race, beating the Indians 2-0.
Duffy (9-11), who had thrown just one pitch this month before the start, held the Indians to six hits. The left-hander had been sidelined since Sept. 6 with a sore shoulder.
Greg Holland worked the ninth for his 44th save as the Royals, seeking their first post-season appearance since 1985, moved within one game of first-place Detroit.
Carlos Carrasco (8-6) could not keep the momentum going for the Indians, who earlier completed a 4-3 win in 10 innings in a game suspended on Aug. 31 in Kansas City.
ATHLETICS 8, ANGELS 4
Jeff Samardzija pitched seven strong innings and received some rare run support as Oakland kept hold of the top AL wild-card spot by beating the West champions.
The A’s moved one game ahead of Kansas City for the first wild-card.
Geovany Soto hit a two-run single to highlight a six-run first inning as the A’s chased C.J. Wilson (13-10) after just two outs for the second-shortest start of his career. Stephen Vogt added a two-run single in the seventh.
Albert Pujols hit a three-run homer in the eighth for Los Angeles, giving him 1,602 RBIs for 33rd on the career list.
CARDINALS 8, CUBS 0
Adam Wainwright joined Clayton Kershaw as the majors’ only 20-game winners, pitching three-hit ball over seven innings as the Cardinals beat the Chicago Cubs.
Wainwright hit the 20-win mark for the second time while matching his career-high for victories, and the Cardinals moved a step closer to their second straight division title.
They remained 2.5 games ahead of Pittsburgh in the National League Central with five to play.
Wainwright (20-9) won his fifth straight start and made it look easy, striking out eight and walking one.
He got plenty of support, with the Cardinals pounding Travis Wood (8-13) for seven runs and eight hits over five innings.
PIRATES 1, BRAVES 0
Andrew McCutchen homered and Francisco Liriano won his fourth straight start as the Pirates moved closer to a post-season berth by beating the Braves.
The Pirates, winners in 10 of their past 12, have a five-game lead over Milwaukee with six games remaining for both teams. Any combination of two Pittsburgh wins or Brewers losses will guarantee the Pirates at least a spot in the NL wild-card game for the second straight year.
The Pirates still have hopes of winning the NL Central, but they began the night 2.5 games behind first-place St Louis.
McCutchen hit his 24th homer in the sixth off starter Aaron Harang.
Liriano (7-10) allowed three hits, walked four and struck out seven in six innings. He extended his consecutive scoreless streak to 28 innings.
BLUE JAYS 14, MARINERS 4
Jose Bautista homered and reached base four times, and J.A. Happ won for the first time in four starts as the Blue Jays dealt a blow to Seattle’s wild-card hopes, routing the Mariners.
Bautista went 3 for 3 with a walk and drove in two runs before getting the rest of the night off. His solo homer in the fifth against Mariners reliever Tom Wilhelmsen was his 35th.
Kevin Pillar hit a two-run homer and Anthony Gose added a solo blast as the Blue Jays handed Seattle their third straight defeat.
Happ (10-11) allowed an RBI double by Robinson Cano in the first, and Kyle Seager’s solo homer in the sixth.
In other games on Monday, it was:
‧ White Sox 2, Tigers 0
‧ Rangers 4, Astros 3
‧ Diamondbacks 6, Twins 2
‧ Padres 1, Rockies 0
‧ Dodgers 2, Giants 5, 13 innings
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