Chen battles through rough patches for win

ST. PETERSBURG -- O's lefty Wei-Yin Chen saw a streak of six consecutive quality starts snapped with Sunday's outing, as Chen was only able to last 5 1/3 innings in the Orioles' 5-2 series win over the Rays.

Chen, who turned in his shortest outing since June 10, retired the first 11 batters before things went awry and he surrendered back-to-back homers to Evan Longoria and Logan Forsythe. He worked his way out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth, but put another pair on in the sixth -- on a walk and a single -- to end his afternoon.

"In the first couple innings I felt great and I was just trying to stay the same pace," Chen said through his interpreter. "But later on I think the Rays' hitters made some adjustment and hit better and better against me."

Chen, who had 10 quality starts in 16 games against the Rays coming in, still recorded the win and is 5-6 with a 2.88 ERA on the season.

"He was good. He was pitching with his fastball for three or four innings. We talk about it all the time. When he's got some depth with his breaking ball and whatever and when he went to it, he was able to get out of a couple situations," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "I think he's a little frustrated at himself for not being able to finish there, or maybe he's just frustrated at me. We got some good innings out of the bullpen and he got a well-deserved win."