Chen singled out tonight (O's lose 4-3)

Oriole left-hander Wei-Yin Chen allowed a career-high 12 hits tonight in 5 2/3 innings. Eleven of them were singles. That's not easy to do. The Orioles are down 4-2 after Jackie Bradley Jr. drove in Will Middlebrooks with an RBI single with two outs in the sixth. Middlebrooks doubled for the only extra-base hit off Chen. Chen didn't walk a batter and struck out five. He threw 98 pitches, 66 for strikes. He's going to carry a 6.35 ERA into his next start in New York. He better use two hands. There were lots of bloops and seeing-eye singles off Chen, but they all count the same. Evan Meek retired Dustin Pedroia on a bouncer to the mound after hitting Jonny Gomes. Update: The Orioles cut the lead to 4-3 in the bottom of the sixth on singles by Chris Davis and Matt Wieters, and a wild pitch by Brandon Workman as he walked Delmon Young. Meek tossed a scoreless seventh inning, allowing a two-out single to Xander Bogaerts. The Red Sox have put a runner on base in 24 of 25 innings. Orioles starters have gone five, six and 5 2/3 innings in this series and combined to allow nine runs and 24 hits. No quality starts. Chris Davis led off the bottom of the sixth and is 2-for-3. Nick Markakis has singled twice. Update II: The Orioles dropped their first series of 2014 with a 4-3 loss to the Red Sox before 20,880 at Camden Yards. Zach Britton tossed two scoreless innings, allowing one hit, walking one and striking out two. The Red Sox put a runner on base in 26 of 27 innings.