A Hardy homer early for the Orioles (O's lose in 12)

J.J. Hardy hit another early-game homer for the Orioles. It came in the last of the first inning and tied the game 1-1. Later in the inning a Freddy Garica wild pitch put the O's ahead 2-1 as Garcia needed 36 pitches to get through that inning. Hardy's homer was his second of the year and the Orioles' seventh. They have homered in the first or second inning in every game. The Orioles took a 2-1 lead into the third inning. Wei-Yin Chen is making his major league debut tonight and has become the first Taiwanese-born player in Orioles history. He gave up a homer to Derek Jeter leading off the game but settled down after that and has needed 34 pitches to get through the first two innings. He played five seasons for the Chunichi Dragons in Japan and went 36-30 with an ERA of 2.53 ERA. In 10 career playoff starts, he went 2-5 with an ERA of 3.39 over 61 innings with ten walks and 49 strikeouts Chen made 89 career starts and 127 appearances in Japan and threw over 120 pitches 16 times with a career high of 145 on July 18, 2010. After Brian Matusz gave up four runs over four innings last night, the ERA of the O's starters increased from 0.41 to 1.73. The team ERA is 2.25 through four games. By the way, in the O's half of the first, Garcia threw a wild pitch that was up and in toward Nick Johnson. Buster Olney of ESPN suggested via Twitter that it might have been a pitch with a purpose. I question that because Garcia was laboring at the time but I guess it could be the case after the Robert Andino-Russell Martin flap from last night. Final score: It doesn't get any more frustrating for the Orioles fans than a blown lead and loss to the Yankees. That is what happened tonight. The Orioles led 4-1 after five innings, but lost 5-4 to the Yankees in 12 innings. The O's left the bases loaded when Hardy popped out in the bottom of the ninth. There was more frustration in the top of the sixth when New York scored three runs and a Mark Reynolds error opened the door for two Yankees runs that tied the game. The Orioles fall to 3-2 on the year. They are just 15-41 against New York since 2009 and have lost to the Yankees 24 times in the last 33 meetings between the teams at Camden Yards. Wei-Yin Chen pitched well in his major league debut allowing four runs and seven hits (two earned runs) over 5 2/3. In the series finale on Wednesday night, Jake Arrieta pitches against CC Sabathia.