Chen strong in potential farewell O's beat Yanks 9-2
BALTIMORE (AP) - Orioles left-hander Wei-Yin Chen finished his season with the kind of start that showed the prized commodity he should be this offseason.
Chen (11-8) allowed two runs in six-plus innings and pitched even better than his final line suggested, as Baltimore defeated the playoff-bound New York Yankees 9-2 Saturday in the opener of a split doubleheader.
With free agency pending, the 29-year-old left-hander from Taiwan ended his fourth and finest major-league season with with a 3.34 ERA. He's 46-32 with a 3.72 ERA in four seasons with Baltimore.
"You can't sum up that body of work in one sentence," said Buck Showalter, Chen's manager throughout his time in Baltimore. "Anytime you go to another country, you realize how challenging it is for them, so you try to have some real sympathy for that. He handled it well. He's been a great competitor for us."
Gerardo Parra, another pending free agent, had four hits and three RBIs as the Orioles prevented the Yankees from wrapping up the right to host Tuesday's AL wild-card game, at least for a few hours.
Manny Machado hit his 34th home run, off Yankees starter Ivan Nova (6-11), and also drove in three runs. J.J. Hardy had three hits.
Chen struck out three, walked three and allowed four hits while getting through six scoreless innings against a lineup that included only one lefty, center fielder Brett Gardner.
He walked John Ryan Murphy and allowed Jose Pirela to open the seventh before leaving to a loud ovation from a sparse but passionate crowd on rainy, chilly afternoon.
"It was kind of an emotional day," Chen said through a translator. "I really appreciated all the fans treating me so nice here, and this is my last start of the season, so I just want to pitch a real good game for the fans."
The Orioles could lose six players on their roster to free agency this offseason, including Chen, their only left-handed starter, and Chris Davis, who entered Saturday leading baseball with 45 home runs.
"I will be happy if I get given the chance to come back here," said Chen, who like Davis is a client of agent Scott Boras. "But sometimes as a professional players, sometimes it's inevitable that you have to change team and adapt to a new environment."
It was still only 2-0 before Machado hit Nova's 1-2 fastball into the Orioles bullpen with two outs in the fifth. Machado added an infield RBI single when Chasen Shreve relieved Nova during a four-run sixth.
Parra, acquired in a trade with Milwaukee before the non-waiver deadline, singled in a run in the sixth and drove in two more on his second double of the game in the seventh.
"I like the fans. I like the team, you know," Parra said. "But I can't control (this). Just wait and see what happens after the season."
MACHADO'S MARK
Machado homered in a third consecutive game for the first time in his career. He's the third player to do it this year for Baltimore, with Davis achieving it twice and Adam Jones once.
TRAINERS ROOM
Yankees: 3B Chase Headley (back stiffness) was in the lineup for Saturday's first game. ... OF Jacoby Ellsbury (back stiffness) was expected to play the second.
Orioles: 2B Jonathan Schoop will have a follow-up exam later Saturday on his bruised right hand. "He's getting a fluoroscope - I don't know if that's the right word, but it's a sort of next-step X-ray," said manager Buck Showalter.
UP NEXT
Yankees RHP Michael Pineda (12-9, 4.24) looks for his third win in four starts Sunday against Orioles RHP Chris Tillman (10-11, 5.05), who last finished a season with an ERA of five or higher in 2011.