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BALTIMORE — The last time Wei-Yin Chen faced the Yankees was Sept. 7 at Camden Yards, and Baltimore’s lefty fired three scoreless innings to open the game.
At that point, Chen had fired 22 1/3 innings against the Yankees this season and allowed a total of just seven runs. Pretty impressive, especially for a rookie.
Then everything changed. In the next 1 2/3 innings, Chen served up seven more runs, including three homers— one apiece to Russell Martin, Steve Pearce and Alex Rodriguez.
Chen faces the Yankees in tonight’s ALDS Game 2 for the first time since that explosion.
The Yankees exploded last night, too, scoring five in the ninth to take Game 1, 7-2.
So now Chen will make his first career playoff start with the O’s desparate for a win. It follows a strong season in which the 27-year-old from Taiwan went 12-11 with a 4.02 ERA in 32 starts, logging 192 2/3 innings.
“I’m from Taiwan, I pitched in Japan and I’m a rookie here,” Chen said yesterday. “And I never thought of pitching [in] a postseason, and this is really a big dream for me.”
Chen has not notched a victory since Aug. 19, going winless in his final seven starts while posting a respectable 4.54 ERA over that stretch.
“I just want to do my job and do my part and give everything out there and just pitch the ball,” Chen said.